Thursday, December 4, 2008

Cal Thomas wants to trash the 1st Amendment.

Cal Thomas, in a recent piece, called for a complete dismantling of the very foundation of America's civil liberties by arguing for measures that stand directly against the First Amendment of the Constitution, and the primary foundation of the Bill of Rights.

In knee-jerk asinine response to the horrific attacks in Mumbai, India, Thomas wrote:

At the very least, all non-Western immigrants to Britain and America should be told prior to their arrival that our intention is to westernize them. They must learn English, study and embrace the history of their host nation and, if they are Muslim, they will be allowed to worship only in existing mosques. No new ones should be built. Existing mosques must be monitored to make sure that hate is not taught and aggressive behavior toward their host countries is not promoted. If such behavior and speech are detected, the mosques should be closed and the imams arrested or deported.
- Source


Okay, look, a couple of things, Cal. First:
if they are Muslim, they will be allowed to worship only in existing mosques. No new ones should be built.

To quote directly from the First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

Secondly:
Existing mosques must be monitored to make sure that hate is not taught and aggressive behavior toward their host countries is not promoted. If such behavior and speech are detected, the mosques should be closed and the imams arrested or deported.

Again, directly from the First Amendment:
or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;

Look, I disdain hate speech just as much as most rational people, but you cannot abridge the right of free speech. And, yes, hate speech is still covered under "free speech." Furthermore, why just Muslims? Why not abridge the right of free speech to White Supremacists and Neo-Nazis? What about radical Black Panthers that call for the extermination of the white race? Why not those who practice Christian Identity that promotes the extermination of Jews, blacks, gays, and others? Who would decide what is and what isn't hate speech? Would Rev. Wright's "God damn America!" tirade, even though he is not a Muslim nor an Imam, be grounds for deportation or closure of his church?

While I agree in spirit, the threat from radical religious wackos is very troubling, what Thomas is proposing is a totalitarian state that would have wide-reaching ramifications. There's a thing called "precedence" in law and the precedence of such measures could easily spread to Christianity, Judiasm, Hinduism, or any other religion once set in motion.

Besides the obvious fact that Thomas is advocating destroying two of the most major foundations of the First Amendment, one can't help but be reminded of what our great founding father, Benjamin Franklin, is well known and oft quoted:

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.




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Saturday, November 29, 2008

Capitalism at its finest.

I'm sure you've already seen this. It's pretty fucked up.

Three violent deaths in two stores marred the opening of the Christmas shopping season Friday.

In the first, a temporary Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death in a rush of thousands of early morning shoppers as he and other employees attempted to unlock the doors of a Long Island, New York, store at 5 a.m., police said.

In the second, unrelated incident, two men were shot dead in a Toys "R" Us in Palm Desert, California, after they argued in the store, police said.


The Wal-Mart worker, whom authorities did not identify, was 34 and lived in Queens, said Nassau County police Detective Lt. Michael Fleming.

"This was utter chaos as these men tried to open the door this morning," Fleming said.

Video showed as many as a dozen people knocked to the floor in the stampede of people trying to get into the Wal-Mart store, Fleming said.

The employee was "stepped on by hundreds of people" as other workers attempted to fight their way through the crowd, Fleming said.

"Several minutes" passed before others were able to clear space around the man and attempt to render aid. Police arrived, and "as they were giving first aid, those police officers were also jostled and pushed," he said.

"Shoppers ... were on a full-out run into the store," he said.

The crowd had begun forming outside the store by 9 p.m. Thursday, Fleming said. By 5 a.m. Friday, when the doors were unlocked, there were 2,000 or so shoppers, many of whom "surged forward," breaking the doors, he said.

The man was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Others in the crowd sustained minor injuries such as sprained ankles, Fleming said.

A 28-year-old pregnant woman was taken to a hospital, but "the baby is going to be OK," Fleming said. She was to be released later in the day, he said.









The California shootings occurred about 11:30 a.m. (2:30 p.m. ET), authorities said.

By the time police arrived, two men were dead from gunshot wounds, Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez said. He said authorities are not seeking any other suspects.

Gutierrez said that the men did not appear to be store employees and that the dispute appeared unrelated to shopping.

"There was a confrontation inside of the store. But over a toy? I don't think that is accurate," he said.

Two handguns were found near the men's bodies, Gutierrez said.

In a written statement, Toys "R" Us spokeswoman Kathleen Waugh said the shooting appeared unrelated to the heavy shopping day.

"Our understanding is that this act seems to have been the result of a personal dispute between the individuals involved," she said.

She said company officials were "outraged" by the shooting and were working with authorities to find out what happened.

Gutierrez said no one else in the store was injured. Gutierrez said no one else in the store was injured. The store remained closed Friday afternoon but was expected to open as usual Saturday.

He said authorities would not release the men's names until their families have been notified.

Daniel Watson said he was at home with his children when his wife called from the Toys "R" Us store, where she and her mother were shopping.

"All I could hear was gunshots in the back," he said. "She said, 'They're in here shooting.' I told her to run and hide, stay down and hide."

He said his wife did just that, ducking under a clothes rack until the threat was over. Watson said neither woman was hurt.









Asked about the possibility of criminal charges in the Wal-Mart death, Fleming said he would not rule it out but noted that charges would be "very difficult," as it would be "almost impossible" to identify people in the crowd from the video, and those in the front of the crowd were pushed by those behind them.

Hundreds of people may have lined up in an orderly fashion but got caught up in the rush, he said.

Wal-Mart spokesman Kelly Cheeseman issued a statement saying, "We are saddened to report that a gentleman who was working for a temporary agency on our behalf died at the store and a few other customers were injured. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families at this difficult time."

The company is investigating the incident, the statement said.

Officers patrolling the shopping center overnight had had concerns about the size of the crowd, Fleming said, and had tried to get those in line better organized. Wal-Mart security officers were also present overnight, but he said he did not know how many.

"I don't know what it's worth to Wal-Mart or to any of these stores that run these sales events," Fleming said, "but it has become common knowledge that large crowds do gather on the Friday after Thanksgiving in response to these sales and in an effort to do their holiday shopping at the cheapest prices.

"I think it is incumbent upon the commercial establishments to recognize that this has the potential to occur at any store. Today, it happened to be Wal-Mart. It could have been any other store where hundreds and hundreds of people gather."

Asked whether the security had been adequate, Fleming said, "In light of the outcome, in hindsight, the answer is obviously no. ... This crowd was out of control."

- Source




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Friday, November 28, 2008

North vs South: Dinosaur Edition.

I don't know if this guy from Natural Bridge, Virginia (hey! that's right near me!) was a fan of the fairly obscure comic, Cadillacs & Dinosaurs, but regardless of his comic book savvy, his exhibit is awesome.


^ Dinosaurs @ 0:35 ^

The bit preceeding the dino exhibit is pretty funny too.


nothing after the jump.




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Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Internet the cause of suicide? Sure, why not.

In a move that reminded me somewhat of Brandon Vedas, a Florida man broadcast his suicidal overdose.

Police in Florida are investigating the role of Web site moderators and discussion board members in a live streaming video of a teen's suicide last week.

Nineteen-year-old Abraham Biggs Jr. wrote that he intended to kill himself with a combination of prescription drugs, offered a link to his Web cam, and invited people to watch. Members of a discussion board commented on the event as it unfolded.


Some expressed shock, while others laughed or encouraged Biggs to die. Some members uncovered Biggs' identity, phone number, and address, and at least one online community member called police. Twelve hours after Biggs posted the note and a link to Justin.tv through a discussion board on bodybuilding.com, police found his lifeless body while the suicide video continued to stream online.


Vedas' overdose was also met with a large deal of skepticism and a few who tried in vain to reach his parents, poison control, or to at least found out where he was. The thing that most people don't seem to realize is that it isn't exactly all that simple to rectify a situation like this. Sure, you can get their IP address, but that's only going to give you a very vague idea of their location, showing where the users subscriber servers are located.

Some of the disturbing comments occurred after Biggs had lost consciousness or died. Justin.tv, the forum where Biggs streamed the incident, deleted the video and the related string of comments, so it is unclear whether taunts were made before Biggs lost consciousness or took the pills.

Biggs' father told The Associated Press that he believes his son's post was a cry for help and that he is appalled that no one responded before it was too late. The Pembroke Pines Police Department confirmed in an interview over the weekend that they are looking into what role, if any, Web site moderators and online community members played in the situation.


I'm shocked that the father seems to levy this so heavily on random people on the internet. Biggs had made such threats or given indications of severe depression and/or suicidal thoughts before. Why was this not acted upon by his friends and family? You know, the people that actually see him in the real world all the fucking time. But surely their inactivity wasn't the problem. The problem was the random people who had no idea of the veracity of Biggs' suicidal urges. If it wasn't that site that Biggs broadcasted his suicide on, it would have been another site. If he didn't have a webcam, it easily could have been a regular camcorder. Biggs was going to commit suicide whether some random fucktards urged him on or not. I seriously doubt the website was what pushed him over the edge.

People who claimed to have witnessed the event said in online postings that they tried to get help from Web site moderators who did not take the situation seriously and respond until members made several pleas for help. Several people also said it was difficult to determine whether the footage was real and whether Bigg's threat was serious because they claim he had made similar threats before.

The Web sites' operators have not commented on the investigation, but Justin.tv CEO Michael Seibel issued a statement.

"We regret that this has occurred and want to respect the privacy of the broadcaster and his family during this time," he said.

Other people have streamed their suicides and plotted suicide with others online. Suicide is illegal in many places and those who attempt it but fail can face prosecution.

Posting video of a suicide is not generally a criminal offense, although it violates terms of use on sites like Justin.tv, which ban inappropriate and violent content. However, that site, and others like it, rely on users to report inappropriate content, making it impossible in some cases to prevent live footage.

In New York State, anyone who advises someone to commit suicide can be charged with manslaughter.

- Source


Was it mean-spirited to mock and encourage his suicide? Yeah, sure it was. People saying mean shit on the internet? Never heard of it before. Irregardless, I wonder how likely Biggs suicide would have been prevented if no posts had been made to encourage him. My bet, if he didn't kill himself then, he would have later. And if his family and friends didn't notice or proactively seek help for his behaviour already, it makes me wonder if they would have had Biggs been talked down. This idea that someone has to be at fault, someone other than the individual who committed the act, is complete bullshit.



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Monday, November 24, 2008

Sentence diagramming Axl Rose.

Heard this the other day and thought it pretty funny.

This is a huge weekend, an historical weekend, if you're a fan of Guns N' Roses. The new album, Chinese Democracy, is being released. It's an album some 16 years in the making. Lead singer Axl Rose, the only original member remaining from the band's late 80's glory days, has been writing, rewriting, recording, tweaking, and fussing with this record since before the first Clinton administration. In other words, he's been editing. As any writer knows, it's the editing process that can really slow things down. See, back in those glory days, Guns N' Roses were raw energy. Young, fresh. Don't think about it, just rock it. That was the era of classics like Welcome to the Jungle and Paradise City. I wonder what would have happened if Axl Rose had hired an editor back then. What would that editor say about perhaps the band's most popular hit of all time, "Sweet Child O' Mine"?





Hi Axl,

Just got your manuscript and demo for the song "Sweet Child O' (sic) Mine." I think we need to talk. As your editor, I am responsible for making your songs as cogent as possible, for helping them reach the high editorial standards your public has come to expect. With this one, I am certainly earning my keep. After several attempts to reach you by phone, I am sending along my notes. Please make appropriate fixes as soon as possible, at which point I can send them to copy editing and proofreading in time for your upcoming studio session.

"She's got a smile that, it seems to me" -- Why equivocate? You weaken your point by framing this as a mere personal observation instead of a fact.

"Reminds me of childhood memories" -- Redundant. You either have a memory or you're reminded of something. You're not reminded of a memory. Heavy-metal fans won't stand for such writing, my friend.

"Where everything was as fresh as a bright blue sky" -- I asked around the office and no one is sure a blue sky is "fresh." You could have a blue sky at the end of a long, sweaty day and there would be nothing fresh about it. And she reminds you of a time when things were fresh? Fond reminiscences of freshness are no foundation for love. Fix.

"Now and then when I see her face it takes me away to that special place" -- Again, you're weakening your own argument. Why does the sight of her face transport you only periodically? And is it just her smile or her entire face that does this to you? Because you've already said both. Consistency, Axl!

"And if I stared too long, I'd probably break down and cry" -- Why would you do that? Because you miss the freshness you described earlier? I think the whole "fresh" thing is really tripping you up. Also, crying? Wimpy.

OK, on to the second verse.

"She's got eyes of the bluest skies" -- See, this is just getting worse. Now her eyes are made of sky? Nice imagery, but you just got done saying her smile reminded you of memories of sky. Is this verse actually supposed to be a second draft of the first verse? Am I just confused on formatting? Help!

"As if they thought of rain" -- Axl, eyes can't think of rain. And even if they could, which they can't, why would bluest skies think of rain? Perhaps less imagery of thinking eyes made of sky and more direct exploration of your feelings?

"I hate to look into those eyes and see an ounce of pain" -- Well, hell. I guess in your special Axl World anything is possible. Eyes can be made of sky, ponder the weather, and exhibit pain in amounts that can be weighed.

"Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place where as a child I'd hide" -- Delete. Fix. Do something. You'd hide in a place that reminded you of hair? Never show me such phrases again.

"And pray for the thunder and the rain to quietly pass me by" -- Whew. OK, listen to me now: Thunder can't quietly do anything. It's thunder. And, more importantly, do you really want to come across as a wuss who's constantly on the verge of weeping and skittering into hair caves to escape from rain? Is this a song about love or climatic anxiety? You need to work these things out.

Finally, Axl, I think we might have had a misunderstanding regarding my previous notes. When I wrote in colored pencil "Where do we go now?" I wasn't offering that as a lyric. I was simply observing that, in narrative terms, the song needed to progress in some way. You love the girl, she's helping you work through some issues, whatever. So where do we go now? But instead of providing a satisfactory conclusion, you simply took my note and repeated it over and over again before ultimately just stating the title of the song. This is unacceptable. Don't ask us, the listeners, where we go. That's up to you as the writer! Tell us where we go now!

Again, let's try to fix these things soon and get "Sweet Child of Mine" ("My Sweet Child"?) into your fans' hands as quickly as possible. Because, frankly, if it should ever hit the street in its current form, the song would be a colossal failure.

Talk soon!

Your Editor

- Source


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Friday, November 21, 2008

America: The Book on C-Span's BookTV

While looking for the Malcolm Gladwell appearance that I saw on BookTV for another post, my search on C-Span Archives gave me, somehow, America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction by Jon Stewart and others. And, yes, the appearance does have Stewart himself reading from the book.

If you got the time (it's a little over an hour long), give it a go.

nothing after the jump






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Malcolm Gladwell on Obama and "change."

I love Malcolm Gladwell. I'm not a fan of The New Yorker, but I do love Gladwell's books and was first turned onto him by this BookTV appearance promoting Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. If you haven't read Blink, you really should.

Anyways, Gladwell was on Rachel Maddow's MSNBC show talking about Obama, "change", and why we are seeing former Clinton administration appointees as Obama's cabinet choices. Even if you don't like Maddow, you should give this a view just because of Gladwell. His explanation of the 10,000 Hour Rule is incredibly enlightening.

Vid after the jump.


^ Gladwell @ 2:40 ^



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No heart? No problem!

D'Zhana Simmons says she felt like a "fake person" for 118 days when she had no heart beating in her chest.

"But I know that I really was here," the 14-year-old said, "and I did live without a heart."


As she was being released Wednesday from a Miami hospital, the shy teen seemed in awe of what she's endured. Since July, she's had two heart transplants and survived with artificial heart pumps — but no heart — for four months between the transplants.

Last spring D'Zhana and her parents learned she had an enlarged heart that was too weak to sufficiently pump blood. They traveled from their home in Clinton, S.C. to Holtz Children's Hospital in Miami for a heart transplant.

But her new heart didn't work properly and could have ruptured so surgeons removed it two days later.

And they did something unusual, especially for a young patient: They replaced the heart with a pair of artificial pumping devices that kept blood flowing through her body until she could have a second transplant.

Dr. Peter Wearden, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh who works with the kind of pumps used in this case, said what the Miami medical team managed to do "is a big deal."

"For (more than) 100 days, there was no heart in this girl's body? That is pretty amazing," Wearden said.


Damn right that's a big deal! That's awesome! I can't wait until people can be preserved as detached heads in jars.


"Welcome! To the world of tomorrow!"

However, it's not quite as easy and simple to live without a heart as one might have hoped.

Although artificial hearts have been approved for adults, none has been federally approved for use in children. In general, there are fewer options for pediatric patients. That's because it's rarer for them to have these life-threatening conditions, so companies don't invest as much into technology that could help them, said Dr. Marco Ricci, director of pediatric cardiac surgery at the University of Miami.

He said this case demonstrates that doctors now have one more option.

"In the past, this situation could have been lethal," Ricci said.

And it nearly was. During the almost four months between her two transplants, D'Zhana wasn't able to breathe on her own half the time. She also had kidney and liver failure and gastrointestinal bleeding.

Taking a short stroll — when she felt up for it — required the help of four people, at least one of whom would steer the photocopier-sized machine that was the external part of the pumping devices.

- Source


Eentually the technology will get smaller. I can only hope that one day, when someone asks, "have you no heart?" I can safely reply, "actually, no. I don't."



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Copernicus found.

It's crazy to think that Copernicus, one of the godfathers of astrology, has been in an unknown grave for all these years. Copernicus is the first known to have challenged the Catholic Church's notion that the sun revolves around the Earth, as was supported by biblical interpretations. This revolutionary theory laid the groundwork for many future astrologists. His findings were later published, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, as he lay upon his death bed. Story has it that as the first printing was laid upon his bed, Copernicus woke from a coma, read the manuscript, and then passed. Copernicus was later buried somewhere within the Cathedral of Frauenburg.

Archeologists over the years have searched to find Copernicus' final resting place, and now it is thoroughly believed that they have found the body of Copernicus.


Researchers said Thursday they have identified the remains of Nicolaus Copernicus by comparing DNA from a skeleton and hair retrieved from one of the 16th-century astronomer's books.

Polish archaeologist Jerzy Gassowski told a news conference that forensic facial reconstruction of the skull that his team found in 2005 buried in a Roman Catholic Cathedral in Frombork, Poland, bears striking resemblance to existing portraits of Copernicus.

The reconstruction shows a broken nose and other features that resemble a self-portrait of Copernicus, and the skull bears a cut mark above the left eye that corresponds with a scar shown in the painting.

Moreover, the skull belonged to a man aged around 70 — Copernicus's age when he died in 1543.

In addition, Swedish genetics expert Marie Allen found that DNA from a tooth and femur bone matched that taken from two hairs retrieved from a book that the 16th-century Polish astronomer owned, which is kept at a library of Sweden's Uppsala University where Allen works.

- Source




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Thursday, November 20, 2008

George Will bemoans grooming Palin for 2012.

I know it's beating a dead horse, but Palin really has turned out to be the Giving Tree of political jokes. Like the Energizer Bunny, she just keeps going and going. All the while completely oblivious to how droll and inept she appears. Many think she can be groomed, others, such as George Will, don't quite agree.

When asked whether he touhgt Palin coul or would be the new face of the GOP, George Will had this to say.


"Instead of going to ground, if she went to Princeton and studied with Paul [Krugman] and some other, after four years she would be half as ready as Paul Ryan and some other already are. Why are we starting with her?"

- Source @ -0:45




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Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Saw this a little bit ago and found it hilarious.

The GOP is as junk-sick as Jeff Conaway, the chief head case on VH1's Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.

In this reality TV nightmare world, starpower is measured by the number of times a celebrity can be caught on camera puking into a wastebasket during detox and the degree to which drug use has hampered an actor's ability to speak — can he utter a complete and coherent sentence or only communicate in slurred gurgles and zonked-out cries? If he can do the latter, he's an A-Lister. If the former, he's a has-been.

The Republican Party is an awful lot like that. On second thought, the GOP is worse. It needs an intervention, right here, right now.

Here's what should happen:

The GOP needs to break all ties with Sarah Palin. She is not its leader. She is not its candidate in 2012. At best she is a future television host, all perkiness and smiles and well-scripted ah-shucks-isms. At worst, she's a dangerously inept Alaskan hillbilly with a penchant for end-times theology and the intellectual curiosity of brain cancer.

So, with Sarah plain and intolerant out of the way, who's the leader of the Republican Party? Well, nobody. At least at the moment. But there is a movement going on, one that might reshape the GOP the way Barry Goldwater's ideas gradually transformed the party. And it's centered around Texas Congressman Ron Paul, a man the current GOP won't even let into its national convention.

That said, Paul isn't the guy the GOP needs to turn to. Aside from his opposition to the Iraq War, a novel move for a member of the current GOP, Paul's beliefs are too tied to the past — he's an isolationist who wants the U.S. out of NATO and the U.N., a proponent of dismantling the Federal Reserve and ending the income tax, and a believer in the guns-and-God platform that has supported the Republican Party over the last eight years. With Ron Paul, it'll be one step forward, 12 steps back.

Which brings us to this next bit of advice: quit kowtowing to evangelicals. They don't speak for the majority of Americans, nor do they speak for the majority of Christians. Yes, most Americans want God in their lives, but they don't want Him involved in foreign policy matters, high school display cases, or license plate designs. God knows who's naughty and who's nice. He doesn't need an "I Believe" license plate or two Ten Commandments tablets next to the state basketball championship trophy to figure that out. Go for somebody quietly religious. You know, the way Republicans used to be, back when they were more concerned about balancing budgets than thumping Bibles.

Speaking of religion, it's time to get rid of the false prophets — men like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Mark Levin. This unholy trinity has abandoned all objectivity in favor of blind, spit-spewing support of the GOP — right, wrong, or just plain retarded. If the Republicans hope to win back the middle-of-the-roaders they just lost, they're going to have to be willing to openly criticize the party itself. People expect the GOP's leading thinkers to disagree, not to march in lockstep. But the Republican Party loses credibility every single time Hannity goes on a rant about why the "Democrat" Party is hell-bent on destroying America and why the GOP is an example of all that is good and holy. It's fine to be partisan. It's fine to argue a point of view. But for Siddhartha's sake, the intellectually dishonest discourse has to stop.

If they ever hope to regain power, the leaders of the GOP must also be careful never to listen to Dick Morris or Bill Kristol ever again. Up until the bitter end, Morris was proclaiming with a straight face that McCain would win; at some point Republicans need to consider the possibility that Morris is a double agent whose loyalties still lie with the Clintons. As for Kristol, the GOP should never forget that The Weekly Standard editor and the chairman of the Project for the New American Century is one of the chief architects of the neoconservative movement. Look where that got us. His dreams of a Benevolent Global Hegemony turned out to be a malicious worldwide clusterfuck.

Most importantly, the GOP needs to be honest about why John McCain lost in 2008. Don't be like Sen. Jim DeMint and lie to yourself. According to the Upstate senator, the American public turned against McCain because he wanted amnesty for illegal immigrants, supported anti-global warming initiatives, and embraced the Wall Street bailout. Um, I hate to break this to you, Minty, but on those issues McCain and Obama weren't much different, and we know who won there.

Last but not least, the most important step of all: Ditch Dutch. Yes, say good-bye to the Gipper. Trickle-down economics doesn't work, and deficit spending has nearly destroyed our economy. And all that good-versus-evil foreign-policy talk that Ronnie was so fond of? Well, it was really just talk; he didn't believe it, and neither should today's GOP.

One day, a new conservative leader will emerge to take the reins of the GOP and win the hearts and minds of the American public. But the road to recovery will either be a 28-day stay at a rehab program or a long, hard, self-destructive slog to the grave, the fate that awaits every user who just can't get off the junk.

- Source




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Gingrich: Fighting gay secular facism for the American Way.

Besides Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich's name is another consistently occurring for a potential 2012 GOP run. If the GOP thinks Newt will go over any better than Palin did, they might want to actually try and do some vetting this time around.

On a recent O'Reilly Factor appearance Newt had this to say:

"Look, I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think that it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional religion. And I think if you believe in historic Christianity, you have to confront the fact. And, frank — for that matter, if you believe in the historic version of Islam or the historic version of Judaism, you have to confront the reality that these secular extremists are determined to impose on you acceptance of a series of values that are antithetical, they're the opposite, of what you're taught in Sunday school."
- Source


Honestly, if Gingrich was a halfway viable candidate he would have been run back when he was still a hot name and well known for being Speaker of The House. Also, as Mike Barnicle points out, Newt is the one that lead the GOP down this Christian Fundamentalist, highly partisan, rhetoric instead of ideas route.


"There's Newt, the firebug..." ^



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Jonestown was some crazy shit.

My faux-guild in Guild Wars (I was the only member) was named the "Jim Jone Fun Aid Fan Club." I know about Jonestown, but it seems such a detached experience. Perhaps because I was not alive at the time to actually see the news reports.

Rachel Maddow talks with Fred Francis, the first reporter to discover the Jonestown massacre.


^ Maddow with Francis ^

Just say "NO!" to cults.


*small note: Despite popular belief, Kool Aid was not used to dispense cyanide at Jonestown. It was actually a generic Kool Aid alternative called Fun Aid.


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Real life Furbies!?!?

A primate species that looks like a living, breathing version of the Furby electronic toy has been found alive in the forested highlands of an Indonesian island for the first time in more than 70 years, scientists announced Tuesday.





Three specimens of the pygmy tarsier, a nocturnal creature about the size of a small mouse, were trapped and tracked this summer on Mount Rorekatimbo in Lore Lindu National Park in Central Sulawesi, Texas A&M University reported.

Texas A&M anthropologist Sharon Gursky-Doyen, leader of the expedition, said the tarsiers were found on mountainsides above 6,000 feet (1,800 meters) in elevation, amid damp, dangerous terrain. "I actually broke my fibula walking around there," she told msnbc.com.

Pygmy tarsiers rank among the rarest of the many tarsier species in Asia and the Pacific — and in fact some primatologists had written them off as extinct.

There are plenty of questions to be answered: For example, unlike nearly all other primate species, pygmy tarsiers have claws instead of nails on their fingers. Other clawed primates, such as marmosets and tamarins, are thought to have adapted to grip onto trees or dig out insects for food. Why did pygmy tarsiers follow a similar evolutionary path?

Unlike other tarsier species — including the species that live farther down the mountainside — the pygmy tarsiers don't seem to call to each other or mark their territory with a musky scent. "How are pygmy tarsiers communicating with one another if they're not doing it through vocalizations or scent marking?" Gursky-Doyen asked.

One clue came when the scientists saw a tarsier open its mouth in the wild. "It looked like it might be vocalizing, but I couldn't hear anything," Gursky-Doyen said. She speculated that the creature might have been calling in frequencies that couldn't be heard by humans, but were well-suited to cut through the cacophony of forest rainfall.

Gursky-Doyen said she hoped the latest find would put added pressure on government officials to protect habitat within the national park.

"At present, the national park is over 2,000 square kilometers [in area], but there are 60 villages of people living within that park," she explained. She said some of those settlements are closing in on the mountain habitat frequented by the reclusive tarsiers and other, yet-to-be-discovered species.

"As the villages get closer and closer, there's going to be more disruption," she said.

Gursky-Doyen’s research was funded by the National Geographic Society, the Conservation International Primate Action Fund, Primate Conservation Inc. and Texas A&M.

- Source




more...

Is Obama being naive about Lieberman?

Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Joe Lieberman managed to keep his Senate committee chairmanship in part because President-elect Barack Obama didn't want to punish him for supporting Sen. John McCain, Lieberman said Tuesday


The Senate Democratic caucus, following a lengthy and often heated debate, voted 42-13 Tuesday to let Lieberman continue chairing the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

The caucus did, however, strip Lieberman of his spot on the Environment and Public Works Committee.

A Democrat in the Senate for 18 years before going independent, Lieberman criticized Obama, the Democratic nominee, during the race for the White House.

"I know that my colleagues in the Senate Democratic caucus were moved not only that Sen. [Harry] Reid said about my longtime record, but by the appeal from President-elect Obama himself that the nation unite now to confront our very serious problems," Lieberman said in the Capitol as those colleagues nodded in agreement behind him.

Democrats were angered by Lieberman's speech to the Republican National Convention, where he praised his longtime friend McCain and criticized Obama for not reaching across the aisle to work with Republicans during his time in the Senate.

Reid, the Senate majority leader, said Lieberman's criticism of the Democratic nominee had angered him.

"I would defy anyone to be more angry than I was," he said Tuesday. "But I also believe that if you look at the problems we face as a nation, is this a time we walk out of here saying, 'Boy did we get even'?"

Obama urged Reid privately to let bygones be bygones, sources said.

- Source


That's all well and good, but I agree more with Rachel Maddow.


^^ Maddow: The dems have already lost Lieberman. ^^



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Irate Christians want to stop PBS funding.

A new PBS documentary entitled "The Bible's Buried Secrets" examines some of the more recent findings that both support and dispute the accuracy of the Bible.

"The Bible's Buried Secrets," premiering tonight on PBS, presents archaeological findings that will annoy believers as well as skeptics - which suggests the TV documentary just might be on the right track.

At least that's the view of William Dever, a world-renowned archaeologist who worked on the show and calls it "the first honest film that's been made" about the first books of the Bible. For Jews, those books make up the Torah and other early scriptures, while Christians would call them the early part of the Old Testament.

The two-hour show has already stirred up a backlash among some believers. For example, the program airs archaeologists' assertions that:

* The Bible's first books have been traced back to multiple authors writing over a span of centuries.

* There's no evidence for the actual existence of patriarchs such as the biblical Abraham.

* Some ancient adherents of Yahweh also worshiped his "wife," a fertility goddess named Asherah.

* The Exodus appears to have involved just a small segment of the Jewish population rather than all Jews.

* The Land of Canaan was not taken over by conquest - rather, the Israelites actually might have been Canaanites who migrated into the highlands and created a new identity for themselves. "Joshua really didn't fight the Battle of Jericho," Dever said.

[...]

Disbelievers may be discomfited as well: "The Bible's Buried Secrets" includes a segment highlighting the work of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary's Ron Tappy, who is part of a team studying an inscription at Israel's Tel Zayit archaeological site. The inscription hints that a well-organized state was functioning in the 10th century B.C., with Jerusalem as its seat.

Yet another inscription at Tel Dan, from the ninth century B.C., appears to refer to the "House of David" - although that interpretation is disputed. Such evidence suggests that King David and King Solomon were historical figures who matched up with the biblical accounts.

The funny thing is, it's only the bible literalists that have freaked out and are now submitting an online petition to remove all federal funding for PBS.
[T]he American Family Association [has started] up an online petition urging Congress to cut off federal funding for PBS.
- Source

According to the AFA's website,
Take Action

Sign the petition urging Congress to stop using tax dollars to fund PBS. Let PBS operate like every other non-commercial network, raising its own money from its viewers instead of using tax money.

Petition Text

TO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

In light of PBS's decision to air "The Bible's Buried Secrets," I ask that you vote to stop funding PBS with tax dollars.

PBS is knowingly choosing to insult and attack Christianity by airing a program that declares the Bible "isn't true and a bunch of stories that never happened."

PBS should raise its own money. I should not be forced to help pay for its programs.

- Source

Keep in mind that PBS does pay for over 50% of its operating costs itself through contributions. And, yeah, fuck Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow and all the other educational programing on PBS.

Keep in mind this is the AFA that believes Jews control the world's media, that profane content on TV is directly because of Jews who push for an anti-family agenda, whose members have openly and physically attacked lesbians and gays, who CBS's Senior Vice President, Gene Mater, said, "we look upon [AFA founder] Wildmon's efforts as the greatest frontal assault on intellectual freedom this country has ever faced." - Source

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Monday, November 17, 2008

Mortal Kombat vs D.C. Universe - Superman has infinite cheese.

MK vs DCU has finally come out, and it seems that Superman is just as invincible as his comic book character. How so? Thanks to shitty game testing a horrendous flaw in game mechanics, Superman can simply perform a ground-pound move that causes the ground to shake, sending his opponents tumbling off their feet. This might not seem bad, but there is no distance limiter. You can deal damage anywhere as long as the opponent is touching the ground. Superman's recovery time from this move is so quick that he can then immediately execute the move again before his opponent has time to react, sending them tumbling to the ground again and have the move repeated ad nauseum.

Check the YouTube vid after the jump.


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Thursday, November 6, 2008

Palin in 2012? Bring it!

As I was listening to Limbaugh on my way to school, I got to hear some of his infamous tripe about Obama's election to be President. Such as:

"The Dow Jones plummeted today even though The Anointed One (Obama) is now President. What does that tell you?" It tells me that the Dow is continuing a downward trend that has been occurring for over a month now. Someone should tell Limbaugh that the Dow Jones is determined by more than just who won the election. Current economic climates would matter more, I would think. Also, Obama isn't President yet. George Bush is. Obama is President Elect.

And here's what was the best one:

"You want to know why McCain's staff is attacking Palin? It's because she's a conservative." Yep. It's not because Palin is a backstabbing, spiteful, mean-spirited, spotlight hogging compulsive liar that was trumped up in a desperate last-ditch attempt to rally the base. It's because McCain's a faggy liberal douche.

And if you think we've seen the last of Palin, many who agree with Limbaugh that Palin is the new face of the GOP are pushing hard for all those so-called "Georgetown Conservatives" to begrudgingly accept the notion. Expect this to drive a huge schism in the GOP.

On one hand you have Limbaugh, Hannity, and the rest of the nutball group that want Palin. Why do they want Palin? Because she's so much like Dubya. Short on substance, full of lies, but perfectly willing to be a complete tool and say whatever is need to win over and over and she winks while she does it. She's proudly ignorant and doesn't bother to read any news publications, which makes controlling her information pool all the easier. The problem is that, on the other hand, the older "blue blood" conservatives detest Palin, citing her as ignorant, uneducated, and unable to grasp complicated concepts that the President must be able to properly address. It seems the only conservatives that do like Palin are the hard-lined Christian Fundamentalists.

So, what you are left with is a party where a very vocal segment wants to go further to the right, further along religious fundamentalism, and further into transforming the USA into a theocracy. The others want a return to intellectual conservatism and original principles, such as less government intervention, smaller federal government, and stronger state rights. It must be an infuriating time to be a David Brooks, David Frum or a George Will. Good thing Buckley died when he did. Otherwise, I imagine he'd be repeatedly smacking his forehead at the notion of a Palin 2012 run.

Go ahead. Run a Sarah Palin candidacy in 2012. Watch as she mumbles in about 200 "and also" run on sentences. Watch as Mitt Romney and other intellectual conservatives chew her up and spit out all the dumb shit she's so filled to the brim with. Watch as the GOP turns from one of principled minimal government to one of Christian Dominionism and far-right intrusion, always watching over your shoulder to make sure you're following God's Law. Watch as the GOP steeps further into McCarthy-esque Nationalism witch-hunting as they selectively decide who and what is Really American. Watch as all of the vile, disgusting, and deplorable things that came about from the GOP during the final two months of this last election become increasingly magnified and transformed into the core principles of the New GOP.

And if you think I'm blowing a bunch of smoke about this...


^ Shepard Smith saying McCain's numbers tanked after Couric's interview with Palin

Palin in 2012? Bring it on, suckas!

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Saturday, October 25, 2008

MK vs. DC gets nerfed.

As if people didn't think this would happen. It's a Mortal Kombat game going for a Teen rating! So, what was nerfed?

In the latest build, Joker still whips out his prank gun, a "BANG!" flag unfurling. Unfortunately, you won't see the follow up of Joker shooting someone in the face; that actually happens off screen now, the headshot safely out of sight.

Another Fatality that's seen some revision was Kitana's, one that involved her opponent being impaled by her trademark blade-fans. Initially, the first fan went into the torso, the other into the forehead. That second was a T-rating no-no. Double fans delivered to the chest, however, that's a T-rated way to end someone's life.

- Source



The funniest thing about all of this? When MK vs DC's The Joker fatality was first shown, the PR rep said, "for those thinking this would be MK Lite... The Joker actually blows Kitana's head off." So, now that we don't even get to see that, can we officially go back to calling it what it really is, MK Lite?


What The Joker's fatality was going to be

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Wednesday, October 22, 2008

KoTOR MMO! Yes! 11A6MK87LLP30VDF54-E!










YES!



^^ hit the link ^^


NOW



vv and/or watch below vv



nothing after the jump




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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

America shows its true face.

All it took was a an uninformed and completely clueless governor from Alaska to electrify the GOP base. Once Palin was in tow, solidifying the Christian fundamentalists, it was time to give the crowd what they wanted. Meat. Red meat. So you had stump speeches from McCain and Palin saying Obama was "paling around" with terrorists. I vividly remember the freely frothing hatred that billowed from spiteful minds after 9/11, but this is reaching an even higher level of unbridled blood lust and mindless hatred than those days.

When the war in Iraq began gearing up, those of us who were against the preemptive strike were called unpatriotic, traitors and worse. Now, Obama supporters aren't just unpatriotic. Now, we hate America. We are no longer just supporting terrorists, but actually are terrorists. We are what is wrong with society and we are destroying the very basis of which civilization rests upon. It's not that we have an opposing viewpoint on issues, it's that we are pure evil fighting against the saviors of all that is right and good in the world. Delusion of grandeur doesn't even begin to describe the kind of mental disassociation that goes on here.

Palin and McCain put on their "awe-shucks, it's not our fault" routine whenever their shit-stirring is called out. "How is out our fault how people act?" they cry. Because you miserable fucks planted the seed, nurtured it along, and vigorously feed it to overtly engorged proportions. That's why. Years and years of Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, and the rest of the AM Talk Radio crowd sneering about those who hold opposing viewpoints as if they are vermin needed to be exterminated. It's no wonder that some wingnuts have already taken this message of hatred and personal piety (mayhaps even martyrdom) to the most extreme means, murder. The Unitarian Church shooting in Tennessee occurred because the shooter wanted to kill liberals "who are ruining the country." The same reason was given when Arkansas DNC chairperson, Bill Gwatney, was shot to death in his office.

The McCain/Palin excuse wears incredibly thin when you actually listen to them give these speeches. Yes, Obama pals around with terrorists and will make the country less safe, but he's not an Arab. An evil, amoral, murderous, unChristian, despot determined to destroy America? Yes, but not an Arab. What the fuck does this campaign think is going to come out of these people's minds? Obama's a horrendous piece of shit, but be civil about how much you irrationally hate him. What's the harm in that? It's just good, old-fashioned, unbridled, hate mongering. As pure American as Jim Crow laws and massive Native American genocide.

As if shouting "terrorist", "murderer", "kill him!", "hang him", "kill his family", "kill the libs", "liberals are homosexuals", "down with Islam" and all the other wonderful shit that these bigoted fucktards screech in such a shrill is just peachy-keen and merely a little bit of free speech. And it is free speech, but it is, more importantly, blatantly inappropriate for a candidate to run on the platform of "my opponent's an evil cocksuscker that hates you and wants to destroy you." It is fear mongering and spurring hate in a fashion that I thought I would never see play out on such a vastly public and open stage in such a supposedly enlightened era.




Jon Stewart on the monster McCain has created.


The type of hate I see the Right whipping up has moved far, far, far away from the "I disagree and you're an idiot" standpoint a few years back when Limbaugh first started Conservative Radio. It has now morphed into a battle call to eliminate the opposition. To burn, scorch, and destroy those who hold a belief against theirs. To purify so that the chosen ones may walk the Earth that they and only their ilk are deserved to do so.

This shit isn't just sad, it's fucking pathetic. It reminds me of how (I know, Godwin's Law) the Nazis began to operate after Hitler took over. Stirring up irrational hatred and providing a scapegoat. When acts of violence broke out, the Nazi party would also play the card of, "but how is it my fault if a few listeners take things the wrong way?" The thing is, listeners aren't taking things the wrong way. They are reading right between the lines where they should be. Just like The Turner Diaries. The words may be that Obama doesn't represent small-town values and isn't one of us, but the real message is that Obama's a fag loving n***er terrorist who hates America and wants to personally destroy you.

As if to top things off, a bevy of McCain supporters took the time to heckle lines of black voters. How these pieces of human garbage weren't arrested, I don't know. It is illegal to threaten or intimidate voters. What is even worse is that McCain/Palin seem to have no problem with this. Instead they keep on going, whipping people into even more of a frenzy and lining people's minds with the purest of irrational hatred and innuendo.




McCain supporters heckle and jeer at voters.



It is times like this that I am more than just sad to be an American. Not only am I ashamed, sickened, disheartened and afraid for my country, but it is reasons like this that sometimes makes me despise the American people. I love what America once stood for and for what, when it wants, it still can be. But these times cause me to hang my head low and weep.



Eagles Become Vultures by `vhm-alex
(click the above image to visit vhm-alex's DeviantArt webpage. prints can be ordered from there, if interested)


-edit-

I got to catch up on Hardball. I knew Gen Powell had endorsed Obama from NPR, but I didn't know the full reason why. Turns out it is partly because of how similar to McCarthy-era hate mongering the GOP has become.




Hardball: Powell endorses Obama



In a later clip, Buchanan even admits that calling liberals "communists", "unAmerican", etc. is wrongheaded and fundamentally improper.




Hardball: Pat Buchanan admitting McCarthy-esque witch hunting




Just because, here's Bill Maher on Hardball

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Wednesday, October 8, 2008

B ioWare, LucasArts announcement.

I'm not a fan of monthly fee MMOs. I think it's an entirely BS format, much like episodic content. (you pay more for 3 episodes than a whole game) I can understand a small fee, say $5 per month, but $15-$20 is just way too much. I already bought your fucking game, why should I have to essentially buy it again every 3 months? I was tempted to buy Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR), but held off and I think I'm better for it. The combat seems slow, clunky, and not as much fun as people bill it. (comparing to WoW PvP is like saying shit tastes almost as good as raw sewage)

I might have to eat my words, and my ideals, regarding monthly pay-to-play if this upcoming BioWare announcement is all that it's cracked up to be. I might not stick around forever, but I'll definitely have to check it out. Upcoming announcement? Oh, that's right... BioWare and LucasArts are making their big announcement as to what in the hell their MMO project really is on October 21st.

"LucasArts and BioWare invite you to attend the official unveiling of the game that's been rumored about for years," reads the invite before providing event-locale details. The gathering will be held in San Francisco on the afternoon of October 21, just more than a month after the release of the latest Star Wars game, The Force Unleashed. At a presentation at the Game Developers Conference this past March, producer Hayden Blackman said that the fast-selling game was settled on after a proposed third single-player KOTOR game was ruled out.
- Source

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Everyone said he was drunk.

Lyle Lovett
Family Reserve

you will need Adobe Flash to listen to the audio stream



lyrics after the jump



Family Reserve

When I saw the ambulance
Screaming down Main Street
I didn't give it a thought
But it was my Uncle Eugene
He died on October the second 1981

And my Uncle Wilbert
They all called him Skinner
They said for his younger ways
He'd get drunk in the morning
And show me the rolls of fifties and hundreds
He kept in the glove box of his old gray Impala

And we're all gonna be here forever
So Mama don't you make such a stir
Now put down that camera
And come on and join up
The last of the family reserve

Now my second cousin
His name was Callaway
He died when he'd barely turned two
It was peanut butter and jelly that did it
The help she didn't know what to do
She just stood there and watched him turn blue

And we're all gonna be here forever
So Mama don't you make such a stir
Just put down that camera
And come on and join up
The last of the family reserve

And my friend Brian Temple
He thought he could make it
So from the third story he jumped
He missed the swimming pool
Only by inches
And everyone said he was drunk

Now there was great Uncle Julius
And Aunt Annie Mueller
And Mary and Granddaddy Paul
And there was Hanna and Ella
And Alvin and Alec
He owned his own funeral hall

And there are more I remember
And more I could mention
Than words I could write in a song
But I feel them watching
And I see them laughing
And I hear them singing along

We're all gonna be here forever
So Mama don't you make such a stir
Just put down that camera
And come on and join up
The last of the family reserve


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The clown is down!

As Judge Snyder would say, "boys will be boys." Sometimes even if it involves dumping scalding hot, boiling water on others. Ha! Oh, those wacky frat kids.

NEW ORLEANS -
Prosecutors are not pursuing criminal charges against seven Tulane University fraternity members accused of burning pledges with boiling water during an initiation.

Tuesday's announcement by the Orleans Parish district attorney's office leaves three other members of Tulane's Pi Kappa Alpha chapter still facing felony battery charges, but a defense attorney expected those cases to be resolved the same way Wednesday.

Nayita Wilson, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, said she can't comment on why prosecutors refused to charge the seven fraternity members because the cases against three others are scheduled to be heard in court Wednesday. Wilson also declined to comment on those pending cases.

Erin Hangartner, an attorney for fraternity member Oded Nissim, 20, of New York, said the district attorney's office told her that they aren't proceeding with any of the cases because one of the alleged victims "didn't want to move forward."

"My client is incredibly relieved," Hangartner said, adding, "This was just a tragic accident."


A tragic "accident," huh? Okay...

In May, 10 members of the Pi Kappa Alpha chapter were booked on charges of aggravated second-degree battery. Police said two students were treated for severe burns after they were scalded with water from hot crab boil.

The fraternity members whose cases were resolved Tuesday are: Joseph Lorono, 21; Graham Carron, 21; Jeremy Bendat, 22; Kevin Dunn, 21; Nicholas Maddern, 22; Danny Lazzeri Jr., 20; William S. Dougherty Jr., 21. Hearings are scheduled Wednesday for Nissim; Preston Gelman, 21; and Joseph Stephens, 23.

Both Tulane and the fraternity's national organization suspended the chapter after the incident.

A lawyer for Matthew Martin, one of the alleged victims in the case, declined to comment on prosecutors' refusal to proceed with criminal charges. Martin is suing the fraternity and several of its members in federal court.

In court papers, lawyers for Martin say their client and other pledges were participating in a "Hell Night" initiation and only were wearing shorts and shoes when they were scalded with boiling water and pelted with raw eggs.

- Source


Yeah, sounds like a big accident to me. Accidentally dumping scalding water on the pledges? How could they have known it would be hot? I mean, yeah it was water from a crab boil, but they're frat boys. They barely know their ABC's. Pelting them with eggs? All just a big mistake. They weren't trying to pelt them with eggs, they were trying to throw the eggs to hide them for an egg hunt and the poor scalded fellows just got in the way. Come on, boys will be boys. The clown is down.


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It's good to be AIG.

So, what happened after the US government bailed out AIG in the tune of over $80 billion? After securing 79.9% of AIG's equity in exchange for saving the company from certain collapse, AIG executives felt they deserved a reprieve from the stress of being bailed out. What better place to go than a spa?

Days after it got a federal bailout, American International Group Inc. spent $440,000 on a posh California retreat for its executives, complete with spa treatments, banquets and golf outings, according to lawmakers investigating the company's meltdown.

AIG sent its executives to the coastal St. Regis resort south of Los Angeles, California, even as the company tapped into an $85 billion loan from the government it needed to stave off bankruptcy.

The resort tab included $23,380 worth of spa treatments for AIG employees, according to invoices the resort turned over to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The retreat didn't include anyone from the financial products division that nearly drove AIG under, but lawmakers still were enraged over thousands of dollars spent on outing for executives of AIG's main U.S. life insurance subsidiary.

"Average Americans are suffering economically. They're losing their jobs, their homes and their health insurance," the committee's chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California, scolded the company during a lengthy opening statement at a hearing Tuesday.

"Yet less than one week after the taxpayers rescued AIG, company executives could be found wining and dining at one of the most exclusive resorts in the nation."

Former AIG CEO Robert Willumstad, who lost his job a day after the Federal Reserve put up the $85 billion on Sept. 16, said he was not familiar with the conference and would not have gone along with it.

"It seems very inappropriate," Willumstad said in response to questioning from Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland.

"Those executives should be fired," Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama said at a debate with Sen. John McCain on Tuesday, referring to the retreat participants. Obama also said AIG should give the Treasury $440,000 to cover the costs of the retreat.

But Eric Dinallo, superintendent of the New York State Insurance Department, said he could see the value of such a retreat under the circumstances.

"Having been at large global companies and knowing what condition AIG was in ... the absolute worst thing that could have happened" would have been for employees and underwriters in its life insurance subsidiary to flee the company.

"I do agree there is some profligate spending there, but the concept of bringing all the major employees together ... to ensure that the $85 billion could be as greatly as possible paid back would have been not a crazy corporate decision," Dinallo told the House committee.

The hearing disclosed that AIG executives hid the full range of its risky financial products from auditors as losses mounted, according to documents released by the committee, which is examining the chain of events that forced the government to bail out the conglomerate.

The panel sharply criticized AIG's former top executives, who cast blame on each other for the company's financial woes.

"You have cost my constituents and the taxpayers of this country $85 billion and run into the ground one of the most respected insurance companies in the history of our country," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-New York. "You were just gambling billions, possibly trillions of dollars."

AIG, crippled by huge losses linked to mortgage defaults, was forced last month to accept the $85 billion government loan that gives the U.S. the right to an 80 percent stake in the company.

- Source


more...

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Israeli morality ushers in a new Iran.

If some of the hard-line Orthodox Jews get their way, it will be. No longer will it solely be the Islamic world that many secular progressives deride for their treatments and oppression of womens' rights. In a country that makes no qualms about maintaining heavily theocratic leanings, Israel is risking alienating itself from the rest of the world that views religious-supported oppression ans a dismal and disturbing trend.

Just as Iran has Morality Police, so is Israel following in their place. TA first the Morality Police of Iran were not officially sanctioned, but over the years the volunteer forces' grip of fear and control began to bleed into the official government. Now, the Morality Police is a legitimate wing of the official Iranian Police Forces.

Each step that Israel allows vigilante morality enforcement they come closer and closer to becoming a mirror image of their hated extremist Islamic neighbor.


In Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, where the rule of law sometimes takes a back seat to the rule of God, zealots are on a campaign to stamp out behavior they consider unchaste. They hurl stones at women for such "sins" as wearing a red blouse and attack stores selling devices that can access the Internet.

In recent weeks, self-styled "modesty patrols" have been accused of breaking into the apartment of a Jerusalem woman and beating her for allegedly consorting with men. They have torched a store that sells MP4 players, fearing devout Jews would use them to download pornography.

"These breaches of purity and modesty endanger our community," said 38-year-old Elchanan Blau, defending the bearded, black-robed zealots. "If it takes fire to get them to stop, then so be it."
Many ultra-Orthodox Jews are dismayed by the violence, but the enforcers often enjoy quiet approval from rabbis eager to protect their own reputations as guardians of the faith, community members say. And while some welcome anything that keeps secular culture out of their cloistered world, others feel terrorized, knowing that the mere perception of impropriety could ruin their lives.

"There are eyes and ears all over the place, very similar to what you hear about in countries like Iran," says Israeli-American novelist Naomi Ragen, an observant Jew who has chronicled the troubles that confront some women living in the ultra-Orthodox world.


The police chief in Tehran recently warned that anybody caught involved in what he called social corruption would be punished, the BBC's regional analyst Sadeq Saba says.

Reports from other major cities suggest that similar harsh measures are being adopted there, he adds.

In the historic city of Isfahan, police recently banned women who were improperly veiled from entering public places, the country's official news agency Irna reported.

It said police in the city also banned the playing of live music in reception halls and at public events.

Since February's victory, Iran's conservatives have been putting pressure on the authorities to fight what they call the erosion of Islamic values, our analyst says.

The hardliners are angry that women are progressively defying the rules by wearing shorter, tighter and brighter coats, especially during the scorching summer months.

- Source


Israel police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the modesty police are not an organized phenomenon, just rogue enforcers carrying out isolated attacks. But Israel's Justice Ministry used the term "modesty patrols" in an indictment against a man accused of assaulting the Jerusalem woman.

The unidentified, 31-year-old woman had left the ultra-Orthodox fold after getting divorced, according to the indictment filed by the Jerusalem district attorney's office. The indictment said her assailant tried to get her to leave her apartment in a haredi neighborhood in Jerusalem by gagging, beating and threatening to kill her. He was paid $2,000 for the attack, it said.

A 17-year-old who moved to Israel from New York five years ago said she was hospitalized after being attacked with pepper spray by a crowd of men outraged that she was walking down a Jerusalem street with boys.

"They can burn in hell," said the girl, who would identify herself only as Rivka.

She lives in Beit Shemesh, a town outside Jerusalem where the vigilantism has been particularly violent. Zealots there have thrown rocks and spat at women, and set fire to trash bins to protest impiety. Walls of the neighborhood are plastered with signs exhorting women to dress modestly — spelled out as closed-necked, long-sleeved blouses and long skirts.


Women who refuse to wear a veil and otherwise adhere to the strict Islamic dress code will be banished from the capital for up to five years, authorities threatened yesterday after launching a new coverup campaign.

The frightening warning comes as police are carrying out their toughest crackdown in 20 years on young women who do not abide by Islamic law, which requires them to cover their face and hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothing to conceal their figures.

The possibility of exile to the Iranian hinterlands comes on top of stepped-up enforcement of existing penalties for flouting the clothing rules that include lashes, fines and imprisonment.

Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi told an Iranian newspaper that if the current punishments are not effective in preventing women from showing some skin, those who repeatedly violate the law could be expelled from Tehran for five years.

- Source


The state, catering to religious sensitivities, subsidizes gender-segregated bus routes that service religious neighborhoods. Ragen and several other women challenged the practice in Israel's Supreme Court after an Orthodox Canadian woman in her 50s told police she was kicked, slapped, pushed to the floor and spat upon by men for refusing to move to the back of the bus.

Another Beit Shemesh girl, who asked to be identified only as Esther, said zealots threw rocks, cursed and spat at a friend for wearing a red blouse — taboo because the color attracts attention.

Yitzhak Polack, a 50-year-old Jerusalem teacher, is one of those who deplore such behavior.

"They are stupid troublemakers who are bringing shame and disgrace on this holy community," he said.

But the rabbis are afraid to condemn them, says Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, another community member.

"They can't come out against zealots who champion modesty. Here and there they write against violence, but the militants ultimately set the tone," he said.



Iran's latest crackdown on women who do not strictly observe rules on Islamic dress has found an unlikely critic in the head of its judiciary, press reports have said.

Iran has issued 3,500 warnings nationwide and detained about 200 women in the new drive launched on Saturday, according to police figures quoted by local media.
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, who is appointed by the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned police against heavy-handed actions with women found to have broken the country's dress code.
The reformist Etemad Melli newspaper quoted Shahroudi as saying: "Hauling women and young people to the police station will have no use except to cause damage to society.

"Tough measures on social problems will backfire and have counter-productive effects.

"Of course, we need to act against organised crime and thugs but when there is no necessity to take someone to a police station, there is no need to do it

- Source


In August, a Jerusalem man was placed under house arrest on suspicion he set fire to a store in a haredi district of the city that sold MP4 players.

"It started about six months ago. They would come into the store, about 15 of them at a time, screaming, 'This store burns souls!' and they would throw merchandise on the floor and threaten customers," said 31-year-old Aaron Gold, a haredi worker at the Space electronic store.

One Friday night, just before the Sabbath was about to begin, "they smashed a window, doused the place with gasoline and lit a match," Gold said.

Now, a big sign behind the counter says, "All products sold in this store are under rabbinical supervision. By order of the rabbis, no MP4s are sold here."

Clothing stores that sell clothes regarded as provocative have been vandalized, and bleach thrown at merchandise.

- Source

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Friday, October 3, 2008

Gamer Grub = Game Fuel = patronizing BS.

Seriously? A product marketed as, "designed for hungry gamers who want to continue playing games while consuming snacks." Well, thank the gods, because I was having a hard time with beer and pretzels. This is going to be about as effective as Mountain Dew's "Game Fuel" shtick was. As in, it's going to backfire immensely.

The thing is, the vast majority of people who are passionate about video games don't identify with the title of "gamer" that was foisted upon them as some kind of mindless mass-marketing demographic. Originally, the term was applied to those that played and enjoyed video games. Now it's twisted into meaning hardcore ravenous 12 year-olds that play Halo all day/every day, screaming bigoted bile into their headsets and generally souring the way many of us other video game players are perceived. To treat all "gamers" as the same is idiotic. The hardcore crowd of FPS players are immensely different from the hardcore puzzle crowd who are different from the hardcore RPG crowd. Even then, many who are fans of those games vary vastly in lifestyles and other hobbies. Being a "gamer" is not a solid demographic. It's like trying to market to "readers."

Jerry Holkin writes over at Penny Arcade,

In the Tom's Hardware interview, we learn that the snack's creator is a "sometime gamer," which is a bizarre turn of phrase. One either plays games or they do not. If they do not play games, but have instead discerned that "gamers" are a discrete "target demo," there's a word for them: carpetbaggers.

A comparison to Mana Potion is instructive: mana potions are magical energy drinks, so an energy drink called a "mana potion" is internally consistent. In the case of Gamer Grub, its twisted progenitor has named each regrettable salvo after both a flavor and a genre, in a suite of tin-eared constructions that I couldn't even parse at first. "Action Pizza" is incoherent. "Sports PB&J" is nonsensical. The words "Strategy Chocolate" go together like caramel and genocide. I'm literally buffeted by these names, psychically assaulted. They are like the ceaseless, apocalyptic horrors of a prophetic dream.

- Source


The Tom's Hardware piece gives us a bit more insight.
but two features will set this snack apart from the chips, pizza, popcorn, and similar snack foods on which gamers are known to subsist: a proprietary mix of vitamins and other supplements, and a unique “delivery system” that will enable one to consume the product in the midst of gaming without leaving one’s fingers, keyboard, and mouse slick with grease.
- Source


So, what does that mean? It's basically snack mix with a vitamin water sprayed on top of it. The "unique delivery system"? It's in a fucking tube so you can grab it and pour snack mix into your mouth. Wow, that sure as fuck is unique. This is like calling a bottle a "unique delivery system." No longer do you have to dip your face into a bucket to enjoy your beer, getting your hair and shirt wet. Enjoy our unique delivery system that pours beer clearly and cleanly into your mouth. (BTW, beer actually was sold in buckets (pails) before the advent of mass bottling and canning)

If you're ever thinking, "wow, sitting on the couch and playing all this GTA IV is really burning up some essential vitamins and nutrients that my body needs to be able to press these buttons as best as I damn well can. I better get some vitamin-enriched snack mix!" then you really need to rethink your idea of essential nutrient intake. Don't patronize shit like this. Go to Whole Foods or wherever, get some of the various snack mix blends they have, dump it into a cup, and throw in some daily vitamins. There you go, you just made Gamer Grub.

The site for Gamer Grub supposedly has a blog with the intent of "don't bend our servers, just tell us how you really feel." I certainly would, but I keep getting an "Error establishing a database connection" message. My guess is that they have heard how many of us feel, and it didn't go over very well.

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Wednesday, October 1, 2008

I'm not a Jew.

I'm not a Jew and none of my family is Jewish, but this Daily Show clip is eerily true of many of my parents' friends.




nothing after the jump




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Palin is either even dumber than we thought, or flat-out lying.

Oh, man. Here's some more goodness from Kid Dynamo, Duncess Supreme, Sarah Palin. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.

In between her debate-prep sessions here, Palin called into the conservative Hugh Hewitt radio program Tuesday, decrying the lack of journalism ethics and repeatedly referring to herself as “Joe Six Pack.”

The interview comes amid new concerns that Palin is losing support among conservatives, as several prominent commentators have suggested she is unqualified for the vice presidency. The conversation touched on many of the key issues that made Palin popular in conservative circles when she was first named -- including her faith, support for Israel, and her decision to have a baby born with Down syndrome.


Okay, look it's great that she didn't take the Spartan approach and throw the baby in chasm of Mount Taygetus, but those are not key political issues. Except for supporting Israel, those are lifestyle choices. Even the support of Israel is vague. If Israel attacked Syria and Iran, would she still support them so vigorously?


Palin linked herself to the financial situation many Americans now face, telling Hewitt: "I know what Americans are going through. Todd and I, heck, we’re going through that right now even as we speak, which may put me again kind of on the outs of those Washington elite who don’t like the idea of just an everyday, working-class American running for such an office." The governor of Alaska received a salary of $112,895 in 2007, according to stateline.org. The McCain campaign has not released the Palins' financial records.

“We’ve gone through periods of our life here with paying out of pocket for health coverage until Todd and I both landed a couple of good union jobs,” she added. “Early on in our marriage, we didn’t have health insurance, and we had to either make the choice of paying out of pocket for catastrophic coverage or just crossing our fingers, hoping that nobody would get hurt, nobody would get sick. So I know what Americans are going through there.”

She said her family probably took a $20,000 hit in the stock market last week, mostly through Todd’s 401K plan.


Oh noes! That is just like me! Oh, I'm so glad Palin can identify with everyone else who is struggling right now, living off the bread crumbs that a meager governor salary of over $100,000 provides. And to think, they lost $20,000 (which they actually haven't, unless they cash the 401k) due to fluctuations that will probably go back up and mean that they never lost any money at all... oh, the humanity! Do they really think people are that stupid? Of course they do, because most of America is that stupid.

Palin’s chat with Hewitt was on much friendlier terrain than the Republican vice presidential nominee has appeared on in recent weeks, with evening news anchors Charles Gibson and Katie Couric. Hewitt asked about the “virulent opposition to you on the left” because of her position on abortion, and asked whether “the mainstream media and the left understands your religious faith?”

Palin was asked in the interview about her reaction to “extreme hostility” from the media. “I think they’re just not used to someone coming in from the outside saying you know what -- it’s time that normal Joe Six Pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency,” she said. “And I think that that’s kind of taken some people off guard, and they’re out of sorts, and they’re ticked off about it, but it’s motivation for John McCain and I to work that much harder to make sure that our ticket is victorious.”


Yeah, that's it. We're not used to "Joe 6-Pack." I mean, look at the highfalutin elitist that we got in the Presidency right now! Listen up, you pea-brained twit, the "extreme hostility" is the media asking legitimate questions. We knew Hillary, we knew she had experience, we knew her positions. We don't know anything about Palin other than she loves to lie about her positions and then ignore the issue altogether once her lies become apparent. Hostility? Whitey, please. You haven't faced an ounce of the hostility that you deserve for the bumbling, mumbling, nonsensical drivel that you've put forth and the massive gaffs that you, yourself, have created. If you were a male candidate, you'd be torn to shred from here to eternity.

The only thing about Palin that has taken the media by surprise is how completely clueless and inept she is.

Also in the interview, she told the conservative radio host that she does not belong to any church -- in an apparent attempt to separate herself from several of the churches she has been known to attend, one where she received a blessing against witchcraft and another under fire for promoting an event to convert gays and lesbians.

“I think that there’s a lot of mocking of my personal faith, and my personal faith is very, very simple,” she told Hewitt, according to a transcript released by the campaign. “I don’t belong to any church. I do have a strong belief in God, and I believe that I’m a heck of a lot better off putting my life in God’s hands, and saying hey, you know, guide me.”

The senior pastor of Wasilla Bible Church told Newsweek magazine earlier this month that Palin and her family regularly attend church there and have for six years. Another pastor said her youngest child, Trig, was “dedicated” at the church before she was nominated for vice president. But several Internet videos have shown Palin speaking and receiving prayers at Wasilla Assembly of God, where she said the war in Iraq was a "task that is from God" and received a prayer from a guest preacher asking she be protected from witchcraft.


So, now she's lying about her church? Just like she lied about the support for the Gravina Island bridge and that her administration never contacted Monegan about her ex-brother-in-law? (she did support the bridge, her staff contacted Monegan over 2 dozen times about Wooten)

Palin also reminded Hewitt of her own background as a reporter, but said she learned things differently. “Well, I have a degree in journalism also, so it surprises me that so much has changed since I received my education in journalistic ethics all those years ago,” she said. “But I’m not going to pick a fight with those who buy ink by the barrelful. I’m going to take those shots and those pop quizzes and just say that’s okay, those are good testing grounds.”
- Source


* Que Laugh Track. Okay, first off, yes Palin does have a communication-journalism degree that she got from University of Idaho. But, a journalist? That's a bit of a stretch. She was a local Anchorage TV news sports reporter. Not to disparage sports reporters or even local reporters, but to compare a local TV sports reporter, the person that goes on the screen and reads the teleprompter (not the people actually compiling the stories, mind you), to that of a nationally viewed, nationally printed news journalist is a huge stretch.

What exactly has changed so much about ethics? That they're not supposed to ask you anything more than BS fluff questions? What the hell is wrong with you? If you could actually form a coherent thought and make a full sentence, then you wouldn't look like such a damn fool! The media IS doing its job. (finally!) YOU are the one not doing YOUR job by not being able to answer important questions that affecting the national stage. How is it Couric's fault that you can't name a single news magazine or a even a single newspaper? Here, I'll list a few that I browse periodically, USA Today, New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, Harpers, The New Yorker, Newsweek, The Nation, National Review, Times, The Weekly Standard, Reason, Slate, US News & World Report, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, LA Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Star Tribune... hell just name a local paper like whatever the equivalent of the Roanoke Times or Richmond Times Dispatch is. See, that wasn't so hard, now was it?

This complete and utter idiot seriously, actually thinks she is ready to be VP and to take the national stage? I pray to Lord Ao that a McCain-Plain ticket does not pass. Not since the Time of Troubles has the world more needed your divine intervention.

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