Waiting to hear...

...from Ann Coulter about how this is a witch hunt and, somehow, someway, engineered by the Clintons...:

WASHINGTON - Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator and a figure in Alaska politics since before statehood, was indicted Tuesday on seven counts of failing to disclose thousands of dollars in services he received from a company that helped renovate his home.

The first sitting U.S. senator to face federal indictment since 1993, Stevens has been dogged by a federal investigation into his home renovation project and his dealings with wealthy oil contractors.

The investigation has upended Alaska state politics and cast scrutiny on Stevens — who is running for re-election this year — and on his congressional colleague, Rep. Don Young of Alaska, who is also under investigation.

Stevens' indictment further damages Republican prospects in the November election as Senate Democrats, who now enjoy a 51-49 majority, try to capture a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority.

Still, it's the best thing I heard all day. So far, anyway.

Too bad it won't get the play it'd get if it were a Democrat.

What is Justice...

It's really depressing, sometimes, to be me. I see these easy, angry things and think it'd be so easy to be shallow and lack empathy:

Craig @ 102 Let's not argue about semantics here. To mete out justice to a criminal is an act of revenge. To avenge the act of a criminal by putting him in prison is justice. To beat the crap out of a criminal after a criminal act is both justice and revenge. Play with that for a while.
Posted by: Holbach | July 28, 2008 2:13 PM

You are, and remain a fool. I am glad, and yet saddened, that you have once again proven it for all to see.

Justice is about protecting society from those who won't respect its members. You do not serve justice with hate, anger or revenge.

Rather, you mete justice with sorrow and sadness that someone is so morally defective that we must put them from us to protect those that are innocent from his/her predations. To cage him, or her, like they are an incontinent dog who can no longer be given free reign of the house.

We do not, nor ever should, mete justice in any other way. For to do so is to be no better than those whom we remove from our society.

Homeschooling Questions

From I'm Just Saying

1. What was your motivation for homeschooling? Was it based on religious reasons? Was is it based on curriculum - did you want more freedom in choosing what your children were being taught? Was it based on socializing - wanting to have more control in the people with whom your children came into contact with? Was it based on logistics - the nearest school being 20 miles away? What made you finally decide to go this route?

An obsolete, authoritarian educational system that not only failed to meet the needs of my child, but actively refused to meet my child's needs as a gifted child and as a child with OCD. Even then it was manageable until 4th grade, when the lack of effort by the do-nothing administration, which continously refused to discipline the psychopath-in-training class-mate, was no longer compensated by quality classroom teachers. The lesson learned was: if you "volunteer" at the school, you child can routinely mistreat all the other kids and the principal isn't going to suspend him.

One shouting match and threat of lawyers later, the kid was suspended three-times in two-weeks but we were done with the psychopath's game and the principal forced to do her job. I should not have to scream at the principal to get her to do her job. But three years of asking (2nd, 3rd and 4th grades) nicely was fruitless.

And, of course, they added a uniform policy in some desperate and idiotic attempt to fix a broken system. (Our district went into State control as it has failed to meet standards.) Not only did the uniforms fail to work, they created a hostile environment where the principal and teachers constantly badgered the children over dress issues. This, ultimately, sent the child's OCD issues skyrocketing to the moon and broke the camel's back.

Of course, we shouldn't forget the illegal conduct with their deliberate violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act crap they pulled for three months by refusing to give her a clothing waiver because she can't do certain things with clothes. Until I got very forceful and started indirectly talking about lawsuits in the S-Team meeting, they were dragging their feet.

Oh, yes, and the religious pep-talks given by her math and science teacher. We even got some religiously explicit e-mail from him where he took out "God" and replaced it with "A wise king." He spent one-third of his time preaching, not teaching. What a dumbass. I recognize those versus. I'm, very much so, biblically literate. And I'd appreciate it if I was allowed to raise my child in the faith (or no faith) of my choosing. Or at least you'd stop wasting my child's time with your idiocy.

Oh, and "Encore" (the gifted program) was a joke. Four-hours one-day a week? What is the point? You can't accomplish anything and you've just increased my child's "busy-work" problem.

Anyway... This is a question that makes me rant. So I'll chop it off with the worst of it, and not all of it.

2. Don't hate me for asking this. How to you handle socialization? What steps do you take to make sure your children are around other children and adults? Are you active in a home school group? Do you spend a lot of time at church activities? Maybe you utilize the local Y for activities and they meet friends there?

We do a lot of different things. First, the child has friends from when she was in traditional schooling; it's not like the mark of homeschooling was branded on her forehead and she's shunned. Second, the child is no longer forced to be friends with people in just her peer group, so she avoids a lot of dysfunctional, forced socialization.

More importantly, she is now more vertically integrated (in her social circle) from parents to toddlers. While, she's 11, she has a surprising number of young-adult and teenage friends. Most importantly, though, she's just a very social person. She makes friends of all ages and doesn't seem to feel she should somehow artificially limit her social horizons to people in her class.

3. Do you use the public school system for any part of your child's routine? Some children here come to the school for band or chorus, or maybe for science class. Do you send your child to the public school to take advantage of any of their programs?

I'd rather stick a fork in my eye. There is nothing they do that I can't do, or find, better out in the non-traditional educational world than I could get from our inept, failed district. I can't teach art, music or languages. But I can get her people and classes far better than anything she ever got in public school. In everything else, I've got more education in those subjects than any teacher she's likely to have until she gets to college.

Really, you're talking to the elective king. There was a reason it took me seven years to get out of college.

4. Do your children begin and end school at the same time each day? Do they have a strict schedule, at least as far as waking up and reporting to the school area of your home? If not, when/how will you transition your children into following a more rigid schedule - awaking at the same time each day so that they can follow a routine outside of the home like for college and work?

I took her out in the middle of 5th grade. We started 6th grade at that time. This year we registered as 7th grade. We will go two-weeks on, one-week off for the entire year. School starts at 10:00AM. It finishes at 2:00PM. If she has a camp (like the advanced drawing camp next week) it can be more hours. It is never less.

Next year, when she's 12 1/2 she'll start High School. I can teach her everything in her HS curriculum but language. The goal is to take the College AP tests and get college credit for as many of these as we can:

Biology
Calculus AB
Calculus BC
Chemistry
Computer Science A
Computer Science AB
Macroeconomics
Microeconomics
English Language
English Literature
Environmental Science
European History
Comp Government & Politics
U.S. Government & Politics
Human Geography
Italian Language and Culture
Japanese Language and Culture
Physics B
Physics C
Psychology
Statistics
Studio Art
U.S. History
World History

5. How many spelling bees has your child won? Oh, I'm kidding. We all know most of the recent national spelling bee winners have been home schooled children. I just wanted to throw a little funny in there?

Ah. I don't have humor.

6. Do you have a sense of humor? It's probably a little late for me to ask that but...

No. Really. I'm a CPA. Lack of a sense of humor is mandatory for my job.

7. Where do you find your curriculum? Do you shop for it and order it? Do you create your own?

I buy some of those traditional "workbooks" at the Parent-Teacher store. I also buy college textbooks because she's smart enough to read them. And a lot of books from the adult section of the bookstore.

8. Do you have any worries at all about teaching your teenagers the higher level math and sciences? I, for one, could not teach chemistry to my children but I could probably teach them calculus. Is this a concern for you?

No. My wife has a PhD. If I can't, she can. Especially as she's a scientist.

9. What bothers you the most about the reputation home schoolers have? What things do you hate to hear people say about you for your choice? I really hope you don't say that it's my previous post.

Getting lumped in with the ignorant bible-thumpers who can't handle the universe so they cripple their child's education. I'm so opposite that paradigm, it's not funny.

10. Be honest, do you, at least in your mind sometimes, judge those of us who choose public school? Do you ever think we are making a bad choice for our children? Are you vocal about that disapproval?

I don't care. It's not my prerogative to "approve" or "disapprove" of your choices. If you want to put your kid in a dysfunctional school system designed for the needs of the 1800's, that's your choice. Just don't whine to me when your kid can't find Canada on a map.

11. Is "home school" one word or two? I've seen it both ways. With spellcheck, it shows it as ONE word when used as a verb, but two words when used otherwise. Please enlighten me.

Don't care.

Well said and said well...

Dissent Of The Day

26 Jul 2008 07:30 pm

By Patrick Appel

I feel that there is one point about the Myers affair which is not being made clearly and often enough: that is, Myers was not merely attempting to provoke the ire of Catholics. Out of context, what Myers did with the cracker - I am among those who believes that's all it is - may seem strange, unnecessary, even hateful. Were he simply desecrating a religious symbol for the sake of desecrating a religious symbol, perhaps a case could be reasonably made that he was crossing a line. (Though, and I think you would agree, it would still not be reasonable to attempt to have him fired, to make threats against him, and make threats against his family - all of which Catholics have done in response.)

However, in context, Myers' actions are entirely justified, and quite appropriate to the situation.

Remember, Myers did not simply wake up one day and decide that he wanted to provoke Catholics. Rather, he was reacting in an entirely reasonable way to an absurd situation. Poor Webster Cook, whose crime was nothing greater than failing to ingest his wafer, was put through hell for what he did. He received threats of violence and threats against his life, and he now faces censure, even expulsion from his university. And it is against the backdrop of this mindless bigotry and fanaticism that Myers decided he had to act. He was not acting out of bigotry, but in response to it. His point is one that needed to be made - simply put, that Catholics (and Muslims, and Jews, and Hindus, and any other faction, sect or group) do not have the right to impose their views on the rest of us, particularly those of us who find such views utterly irreconcilable with the facts of the world in which we live, and choose to say so. Had those Catholic fanatics simply left that poor kid alone, I guarantee you that it would never have even occurred to Myers to do what he did. But they didn't leave him alone; they insisted on demonstrating just how little progress Catholicism has actually made - and Myers was happy to point this out. The simple fact that they tried to tell him he's not allowed to do what he did is reason enough for him to do it. There's a say, "Any book worth burning is a book worth reading." The same principle applies here: any speech that is banned is speech that must be said, and any expression (provided it's non-violent) not permitted is an expression which must be made - simply to make the point that this is a free society, and such restrictions cannot be allowed to stand.

That bears repeating: this is not the middle east; this is not the middle ages. This is a free society. And in a free society, there exists no right to not be offended. If the Catholic church can get away with desecrating what others consider sacred (or, for those of us who have no concept of sacredness, at least special) - if they can call a loving union between two gay men or women an "abomination", if they can call the union into which I hope to enter someday a "perversion", then damn it, I reserve the right to desecrate what they consider sacred also. Respect is a two-way street - if they want my respect, they must give me theirs. If they want Myers to respect them, they must also respect him (and Mr. Cook for that matter). But this is something of which religion in general seems incapable - they always want respect, but reserve the right to give none in return.

Emphasis added.

Something to think about...

My father is like this:

"There is something feeble and a little contemptible about a man who cannot face the perils of life without the help of comfortable myths. Almost inevitably some part of him is aware that they are myths and that he believes them only because they are comforting. But he dare not face this thought! Moreover, since he is aware, however dimly, that his opinions are not real, he becomes furious when they are disputed."

Bertrand Russell, Human Society in Ethics and Politics

It's kind of pathetic. He can't enjoy life because he's trapped in the inherent nihilism that is Christianity.

I feel sorry for him.

Life is a grand, and not be repeated, adventure. Pissing it away in fear of going to hell because you didn't cross a "t" or dot an "i"... Sad, really.

Cool Mars Picture...

Echus Chasma lies north of tremendous Valles Marineris, the largest canyon in the Solar System. The above image was taken by the robotic Mars Express spacecraft currently orbiting Mars.

Obama and Me...

You'd think they'd have learned by now...

After nearly eight years of getting little or no attention from the White House, it seems as though Detroit's automakers will be a major focus the 2008 Election. With the economy looking worse by the day, lawmakers in Washington have been kicking around the idea of a second economic stimulus package to get people shopping again, and Mowtown's lawmakers want in on the money. Michigan's two Democratic senators are attempting to use the prospect of such a bill to include federally-backed loans to help automakers and suppliers build new factories and engineer new models. The $4B would be used to offset the costs associated with the Treasury Department giving automakers $25B in loans at a discounted rate. Automakers have been against such a loan in the past, but with worsening conditions and tighter lending practices the idea is likely to sound much more exciting this time around.

And, of course, St. Panderer has pledged $4 billion. That's $4 billion of our money to go to incompetents that just won't get with the program. For thirty-five years they've shown a tin-ear to the fact that their product-line of poorly engineered, gas-guzzling vehicles isn't going to sell until they change their ways.

As for the pandering Obama, did he miss the movie? Because it's out on DVD.

Marilyn Manson - The Nobodies

Enjoy!

Eminem Lose Yourself

Enjoy.

Jim Carrey Ice Ice Baby

Enjoy!

Electric Pickle of Jesus

I'll pass! I'll pass! I don't want Jesus to cook me!

Circle Jerks - Killing For Jesus

All across the world
The holy armies on a tear
Ripping through the planet's faiths
Population's running scared
Christianity's all around
Zealots they abound
I wanna blow them to pieces
Cause I...I'm

[Chorus:]
Killing For Jesus
Killing For Jesus

With god on my side
The holy armies gonna ride
Go on a rampage
To rape, plunder and pillage
Insanity's everywhere
Must be something in the air
I wanna blow them to pieces
cause I...I'm

[Chorus]

I'm never bored
When I'm killing for the lord
Now I've seen the light
Hail Mary! I've got Jesus on my side!

Insanity's everywhere
Must be something in the air
I wanna blow them to pieces
cause I...I'm

[Chorus]

Ray Comfort - Killing One Brain Cell at a Time...

An old argument, based on observing that people tend to be of the faith of the society in which they are born.

If He exists like you say He does, He is allowing millions of souls to go to Hell because they were born into a nation that does not believe in Him. How do you justify this?" -- C. Diddy

As has been pointed out to death, Christians tend to come from Christian nations where Christianity is the dominant religions. Just as Hindus tend to come from India, Muslims from the mid-East, etc. Even within the sub-sects of the these faiths, the splinters tend to run to a national, or regional, bent. For example, Utah will have a lot of Mormons, Germany tends to run Catholic and Lutheran. England has lots of Anglicans. Italy has lots of Roman Catholics, while in Greece they run Eastern Orthodox.

Yet this passes for critical thought and apologetics among the evangelicals:

The Bible says that no one comes to the Son unless the Father draws Him, and God draws whom He will to Himself whether the person to whom He is extending mercy lives in Iraq, New Zealand, China, Japan or the United States.

Shorter Ray Comfort - God only likes the people who happen to be born where Christianity is the dominant religion but it's just a coincidence (and I'll be damned if I will ever admit it, to you or to myself).

Well, as much as he has trouble with bananas, or critical thinking, at least he isn't sending death-threats over crackers. But at least he is honest about one thing most Christians like to hide in their wishy-washy versions of Christianity: God is Not All Loving.

Setting the bar lower...

Jesus, how low can you go? How vile can you act in mocking, attacking and dehumanizing gays:

SA 5074. Mrs. DOLE submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 2731, to authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2009 through 2013 to provide assistance to foreign countries to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows: On page 1, line 5, strike ”and Henry J. Hyde” and insert ”, Henry J. Hyde, and Jesse Helms”.

It just doesn't get any more tasteless than that. The only thing Jesse Helms deserves is contempt. And, given his history of bigotry on the issue, he sure shouldn't be on this bill.

At least SOME countries still have some common sense...

Not a lot as the law was passed. But enough to knock it down before it caused probems for those who wished to exercise a basic human right:

Two student activists have won a court challenge to special World Youth Day laws that allowed police to detain people or fine them $5,500 for annoying or inconveniencing Catholic pilgrims.

No To Pope Coalition members Amber Pike and Rachel Evans took the New South Wales Government to the Federal Court, arguing the laws were unconstitutional because they would make their peaceful protest illegal.

The Government passed the rules two weeks ago without discussion or debate.

The Full Bench of the Federal Court ruled the definition of 'annoyance' was too broad and the scope of the laws was uncertain.

It found that in giving the World Youth Day Coordination Authority the power to set the regulations, the Government would not have intended to infringe on freedom of speech.

The court said the law was intended to encourage policing and public safety but could be misused to infringe on people's rights.

However, the court dismissed the second part of the university students' challenge, upholding the section of the regulations that said prescribed items could not be distributed.

It said banning the unauthorised sale of certain items, including stickers, badges and T-shirts, was not unconstitutional and did not stop free political communication.

The judges said the No To Pope Coalition would not be prohibited from handing out condoms and leaflets under the laws.

Basically, political speech is fine, just no infringing on the merchandising...

Jesus Protects Us From Being Poisoned

Worth watching. :)

They're neck-and-neck...

At one point in time I'd have been glad to have seen my pre 9/11 guy, McCain, close the gap:

A month after emerging victorious from the bruising Democratic nominating contest, some of Barack Obama's glow may be fading. In the latest NEWSWEEK Poll, the Illinois senator leads Republican nominee John McCain by just 3 percentage points, 44 percent to 41 percent. The statistical dead heat is a marked change from last month's NEWSWEEK Poll, where Obama led McCain by 15 points, 51 percent to 36 percent.

Obama's rapid drop comes at a strategically challenging moment for the Democratic candidate. Having vanquished Hillary Clinton in early June, Obama quickly went about repositioning himself for a general-election audience--an unpleasant task for any nominee emerging from the pander-heavy primary contests and particularly for a candidate who'd slogged through a vigorous primary challenge in most every contest from January until June. Obama's reversal on FISA legislation, his support of faith-based initiatives and his decision to opt out of the campaign public-financing system left him open to charges he was a flip-flopper. In the new poll, 53 percent of voters (and 50 percent of former Hillary Clinton supporters) believe that Obama has changed his position on key issues in order to gain political advantage.

Now I don't care. He's a sell out, as is Obama. Neither has my respect and my principles say "politics isn't a team sport" and I'm not persuaded by the them-against-us team-based arguments being made. Or the fear mongering to scare me into voting one way or another. Rather, I'm sticking to my principles and flunking both candidates. Or, as I sometimes say, better to be hung for lion than hung for a sheep and I'll be damned if I'm going to "sheep." Especially in this election with these two massively flawed candidates. There is, simply, no way I am going vote for either one of these flip-flopping clowns.

Funniest think I've read in a week...

From Pharygula:

Being aware of All Internet Traditions™, I think we all know that no Internet Phenomenon is complete until it has been properly LOLCATIFIED.

Thus, we present for ur lolz:


WAFERGATE

OR

CEILING CATLOLIC IS WATCHING YOU MASTICATE


Act I, Scene I
University of Central Florida, Catholic Chapel

PRIEST: JEBUS HAS A FLAVR!

PARISHIONER 1: I CAN HAS JEBUS CRACKER?
PRIEST: YES, YOU CAN HAS JEBUS CRACKER.
PARISHIONER 1: NOM NOM NOM

PARISHIONER 2: I CAN HAS JEBUS CRACKER?
PRIEST: YES, YOU CAN HAS JEBUS CRACKER.
PARISHIONER 2: NOM NOM NOM

PARISHIONER 3: I CAN HAS JEBUS CRACKER?
PRIEST: YES, YOU CAN HAS JEBUS CRACKER.
PARISHIONER 3: NOM NOM NOM

WEBSTER COOK: I CAN HAS JEBUS CRACKER?
PRIEST: YES, YOU CAN HAS JEBUS CRACKER.
WEBSTER COOK: YAY, JEBUS CRACKER SOOVENEER!
PRIEST: WAIT, WHUT?
WEBSTER COOK: KTHXBYE

PARISHIONERS: NO! YOU NO CAN HAS JEBUS CRACKER! NOT YOURS!

WEBSTER COOK: FEETS DON'T FAIL ME NOW

PARISHIONERS: OMGWTFBBQ!!!!!
PARISHIONERS: NOOOOOOO! HE BE STEALIN OUR JEBUS CRACKER!!!


Act II, Scene I
Diocese of Orlando

GONZALEZ: HALP! JEBUS CRACKER IS KIDNAPPED!
SUSAN FANI: STEALIN JEBUS CRACKER IS HAET CRIEM!


Act II, Scene II
Catholic League

DONAHUE: STEALIN JEBUS CRACKER IS TERRIBLE HAET CRIEM!
DONAHUE: EXPUL-SION-ATE! EXPUL-SION-ATE! EXPUL-SION-ATE!


Act III, Scene I
University of Central Florida

EMAIL TO WEBSTER COOK: WE SAD
EMAIL TO WEBSTER COOK: WE WANT JEBUS CRACKER
EMAIL TO WEBSTER COOK: WE MAD
EMAIL TO WEBSTER COOK: WE WANT JEBUS CRACKER
EMAIL TO WEBSTER COOK: WE FIND YOU
EMAIL TO WEBSTER COOK: WE RESCUE JEBUS CRACKER
EMAIL TO WEBSTER COOK: WE BRAEK IN
EMAIL TO WEBSTER COOK: WE RESCUE JEBUS CRACKER
EMAIL TO WEBSTER COOK: WE KEEELL YOU
EMAIL TO WEBSTER COOK: WE RESCUE JEBUS CRACKER
WEBSTER COOK: DO! NOT!! WANT!!!


Act III, Scene II
University of Central Florida

WEBSTER COOK: DO NOT WANT JEBUS CRACKER. TAEK IT.
PARISHIONERS: YAY! WE CAN HAS JEBUS CRACKER!
PARISHIONERS: WE GET COPS TO GAURD JEBUS CRACKERS NOW.
WEBSTER COOK: WTF?


Act IV, Scene I
Pharyngula Headquarters

PZ MYERS: WTFBBQ!!!
PZ MYERS: CATLOLICS GO APESHIT OVER JEBUS CRACKER!
PZ MYERS: IT'S A GODDAMN FRACKIN' CRACKER!
PZ MYERS: TEH STUPID, IT BURNZ!
PZ MYERS: WANT CAN HAS JEBUS CRACKERS!
PZ MYERS: DE-SE-CRATE! DE-SE-CRATE! DE-SE-CRATE!

PHARYNGULA: LOL
PHARYNGULA: SAD CATHOLICS ARE SAD
PHARYNGULA: CONCERN TROLLS ARE CONCERNED
PHARYNGULA: ANGER TROLLS ARE ANGRY
PHARYNGULA: HATE TROLLS ARE HATIN
PHARYNGULA: SOCKPUPPETS ARE SAD+CONCERNED+ANGRY+HATIN
PHARYNGULA: WTF! SOMEONE IS WRONG ON TEH INTERNETS!
PHARYNGULA: THEY SEE US SCOFFIN, THEY HATIN
PHARYNGULA: (Repeat above 1000 tiems)
SCIENCE BLOGS PHARYNGULA DATABASE: AAAAOOOOOGAAAAH! OVERLOAD!
SCIENCE BLOGS PHARYNGULA DATABASE: ERROR 500 SERVER ERROR!
PZ MYERS: WTF! NEW THREAD.


Act IV, Scene II
Catholic League

DONAHUE: DESECRATIN JEBUS CRACKER IS WORSE THAN HAYT CRIEM!
DONAHUE: EXPUL-SION-ATE! EXPUL-SION-ATE! EXPUL-SION-ATE!


Act IV, Scene III
Pharyngula Headquarters

PZ MYERS: WILLAIM DONAHUE IS DEMENTED
PZ MYERS: PHARYNGULA! HALP!
PHARYNGULA: PZ MYERS IS TEH AWE SUM!
PHARYNGULA: SAD CATHOLICS ARE SAD
PHARYNGULA: CONCERN TROLLS ARE CONCERNED
PHARYNGULA: ANGER TROLLS ARE ANGRY
PHARYNGULA: HATE TROLLS ARE HATIN
PHARYNGULA: SOCKPUPPETS ARE SAD+CONCERNED+ANGRY+HATIN
PHARYNGULA: WTF! SOMEONE IS WRONG ON TEH INTERNETS!
PHARYNGULA: THEY SEE US SCOFFIN, THEY HATIN
PHARYNGULA: (Repeat above 1000 tiems)
SCIENCE BLOGS PHARYNGULA DATABASE: AAAAOOOOOGAAAAH! OVERLOAD!
SCIENCE BLOGS PHARYNGULA DATABASE: ERROR 500 SERVER ERROR!
PZ MYERS: WTF! NEW THREAD.


Act IV, Scene IV
Pharyngula Headquarters

PHARYNGULA: SECOND THIRD FOURTH FIFTH VERSE, SAME AS TEH FIRST
PZ MYERS: HEY! SOCKPUPPETS! GET OFF OF MY LAWN!
PHARYNGULA: (REPEAT SUM MOAR)


TEH END.......?

Posted by: Owlmirror July 12, 2008 4:37 PM

Condeming loudy from the closet...

My general rule, when it comes to gender-orientation bashing, is the louder and more obnoxious the basher, the greater the likelihood he (or she) is gay. Today's hypocrite:

A spokesperson for Alabama Governor Bob Riley denied that Attorney General Troy King is preparing to resign in the wake of a massive rumor campaign that has yet to be fully confirmed. The word is, according to multiple sources in Montgomery and elsewhere, that King was recently caught by his wife in a gay affair with a male aide and banished from his home.

...

The story then became that the mystery man was a young man who had just graduated from Troy University and was the Homecoming King(no pun intended) (God that gets confusing...Troy King with the homecoming king who graduated from Troy) and that was who the wife walked in on. Then a few weeks later Troy and his boy toy from Troy were spotted at the YMCA (not kidding) engaging in....ummmm....inappropriate activities. Yeah...at the YMCA...made famous by the Village People. Apparently Troy has no inkling of what it means to be 'discreet'.

We'll see how it plays out. But my money is on "resign."

Kudos to Senator Clinton

This in, today...:

Senators tried to mount a filibuster of the bill, just the kind of procedural motion Clinton and Obama said they supported nine months ago, eight months ago, seven months ago, six months ago, and so on. Clinton supported the filibuster Wednesday; Obama opposed it.

And so much for "change." Unless, of course, in "Obama speak" "change means doin' like the Republicans want..."

Fuck Obama. I mean, seriously. He's a total sell-out who's willing to sell you, me and everyone else down the river so he can play at being President. Kind of like the idiot we have in charge now.

How Evolution Works 6- The Constraints of Evolution

The latest installment. Enjoy this fine series.

If they'd have only read...

a history book:

Taliban conflict 'cannot be won' in Afghanistan

THE story of Kabul is truly a tale of two cities. For ordinary Kabulites, life goes on, much as normal.

The carpet merchants of Chicken Street hawk overpriced rugs to foreign passers-by. Legless mujaheddin veterans with their prosthetic limbs laid out on the dusty roadside beg for small change. A legion of gardeners tends the overgrown beds of roses, petunias and sunflowers that somehow flourish despite the ravages of drought and 30 years of war.

But for the international community that has colonised the Afghan capital, it is a city under siege; a citadel of high-walled compounds topped with barbed wire, fortified by sandbag bunkers and helmeted soldiers toting AK47s or M16s.

The growing fears that have gripped the city were graphically realised with Monday's bombing at the Indian embassy in the heart of Kabul, which killed 41 people and injured more than 100. The carnage in the heavily secured diplomatic enclave reinforced a dawning reality.

"Coalition forces are winning every battle but losing the war," a private security consultant told me. "You can go out and kill Taliban all day long. You kill 20,000 - and there's another 20,000 that will follow them."

Algiers. Vietnam. Colonial America. Iraq. Afghanistan. And so on and so on and so on...

At least in Australia, the media will report the story, and the failure of the hubris that had us play this empire-building game. Here... Well, I think we're still waiting for this summer's 'missing white girl' mania...

The Nihilism of Christianity

An immensely beautiful waterfall and Ray Comfort, delusional Christian apologist likens it to a trash bin. Which, when you think about the nihilistic, self-loathing, planet-raping attitude of huge swaths of Christians, Muslims, etc., all sure their useless, corrupt selves are going to "heaven" and, in the meantime, have licence to do what they want to this big blue earth of ours because it's just a transitory rubbish heap... Hence, this attitude:

Look what our God created. And it’s nothing but a trash bin, compared to what He has in store for those that love Him. I’m so excited. Won’t you join us? Please.(Photograph by Jack Brauer. The original can be seen at
http://www.widerange.org/photo.php?id=259&gallery=croatia)

It's a pathetic, irresponsible, life-hating attitude wrapped up in sanctimony and self-righteousness. But, trapped within the delusions of their beliefs, they'll never see it.

Welcome to the Police State

So much for the First Amendment.

The Right-Wing Finds Yellow Cake!!!

Typical example of why the "right" is so often wrong:

Yellowcake uranium found in Iraq, Saddam's legacy, Bush was right!
By Orion Blastar Posted in Breaking News — Comments (113)

It appears that when George W. Bush, the CIA, and Tony Blair said that Saddam Hussein had yellowcake uranium, which was a violation of the UN resolution after the Gulf War, and one of the reasons why the USA and UK invaded Iraq to start the war, they were speaking the truth. 550 metric tons of yellowcake uranium was found recently in Iraq, that Saddam had hidden for over five years from UN weapons inspectors, and sold to Canada recently. Reported by Brain Murphy of the Associated press at ABC News. Yahoo has a copy of the story at their news site as well.

I am trying to submit this to Slashdot despite their liberal bias there. Please help with the story.

Redstate declares a victory.

Too bad the yellowcake was there under license and we knew about it. In other words, this was a pre-identified, pre-existant and widely documented cache of non-weapons grade yellowcake known and monitored by the UN and the IAEA.

In other words, COMPLETE FAIL Redstate. But nice try. I needed a laugh.

Get endorsed, get booed...

Well that's mighty Republican of him:

The crowd was mostly supportive and at times very enthusiastic today when Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama addressed the National Education Association. But USA TODAY's Greg Toppo reports that Obama also got some boos, as he did when he spoke to NEA last year, by calling again for teachers' pay to rise if their students do well on tests or if they take on added responsibilities.

That kind of "merit pay" plan is an idea that many teachers oppose because they say it would discourage collaboration and because they believe it would be more effective to raise pay across-the-board in order to make teaching a more attractive profession.

His speech is here, and while it does have some merits, it fails to address that mainstream schooling is so 19th Century in it's paradigm. It also has the false provision of that a teacher's results are determinate by the teacher. While there are some "bad" teachers, the fact is that underlying stochastic nature of class composition is going to determine the vast bulk of the measured success of the class. And everyone whose been around education, to any reasonable extent, and paid attention, knows this for a fact. This will tend, if you don't measure the "success," by standardized testing, then it's (inevitably) a popularity contest, like half the "merit pay" situations in which I've been involved.

So, I wonder why people drink the kool-aid on Obama being a shining beacon of "progressive" values? He's got a seriously tin-ear with the "bitter" middle-class. He shows he doesn't have a grasp on the "merit pay" issue. He supports the trashing of the 1st & 4th Amendments to the Constitution with his support of FISA and his obvious pandering to religion. He certainly has never taken a principled stand and actually stuck with it, having chickened out on the defense of women, caved into the NRA, caved into big business, and routinely voted to fund the war in Iraq, despite his 2004 campaign promises and Monday Morning QBing on the issue.

(BTW, thank you Blogger for screwing up my original post. Idiots.)

Dancing in the streets...

A truly horrible, horrible man passes. Break out the vino!

Former Republican N.C. Sen. Jesse Helms dies at 86

RALEIGH, N.C. - Former Sen. Jesse Helms, who built a career along the fault lines of racial politics and battled liberals, Communists and the occasional fellow Republican during 30 conservative years in Congress, died on the Fourth of July. He was 86.

"It's just incredible that he would die on July 4, the same day of the Declaration of Independence and the same day that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died, and he certainly is a patriot in the mold of those great men," said former North Carolina GOP Rep. Bill Cobey, the chairman of The Jesse Helms Center in Wingate, N.C.

Helms died at 1:15 a.m, the center said. He died in Raleigh of natural causes, said former chief of staff Jimmy Broughton.

"He was very comfortable," Broughton said.

Funeral arrangements were pending, the Helms center said.

"America lost a great public servant and true patriot today," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said few senators could match Helms' reputation.

"Today we lost a Senator whose stature in Congress had few equals. Senator Jesse Helms was a leading voice and courageous champion for the many causes he believed in," McConnell said in a statement.

Notice how the assholes flock to his death, already lying about him. It's almost as disgusting as his life.

Hook, line and rapture

Enjoy!

More Petfood Problems...

Mega pet store PETCO gets in serious trouble with the FDA:

FDA Requests Seizure of Animal Food Products at PETCO Distribution Center

Today, at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Marshals seized various animal food products stored under unsanitary conditions at the PETCO Animal Supplies Distribution Center located in Joliet, Ill., pursuant to a warrant issued by the United States District Court in Chicago.

U.S. Marshals seized all FDA-regulated animal food susceptible to rodent and pest contamination. The seized products violate the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act because it was alleged in a case filed by the United States Attorney that they were being held under unsanitary conditions. (The Act uses the term "insanitary" to describe such conditions).

During an FDA inspection of a PETCO distribution center in April, widespread and active rodent and bird infestation was found. The FDA inspected the facility again in May and found continuing and widespread infestation.

"We simply will not allow a company to store foods under filthy and unsanitary conditions that occur as a direct result of the company's failure to adequately control and prevent pests in its facility," said Margaret O'K. Glavin, associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. "Consumers expect that such safeguards will be in place not only for human food, but for pet food as well."

The distribution center in Joliet, Ill., provides pet food products and supplies to PETCO retail stores in 16 states including Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.

FDA has no reports of pet illness or death associated with consumption of animal food distributed by PETCO, and does not have evidence that the food is unsafe for animals. However, the seized products were in permeable packages and held under conditions that could affect the food's integrity and quality.

As a precaution, consumers who have handled products originating from the PETCO distribution center should thoroughly wash their hands with hot water and soap. Any surfaces that came in contact with the packages should be washed as well. Consumers are further advised as a precaution to thoroughly wash products sold in cans and glass containers from PETCO in the 16 affected states.

If a pet has become ill after eating these food products, pet owners should contact their veterinarian and report illnesses to FDA state consumer complaint coordinators

I shake my head at the "True Believers of the Market" when I read things like that. It's The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, all over again. One-hundred three years since it was published and companies still won't do the right thing unless the government forces them.

Believe Me, It’s Torture

From Vanity Fair:

What more can be added to the debate over U.S. interrogation methods, and whether waterboarding is torture? Try firsthand experience. The author undergoes the controversial drowning technique, at the hands of men who once trained American soldiers to resist—not inflict—it.

by Christopher Hitchens August 2008

Here is the most chilling way I can find of stating the matter. Until recently, “waterboarding” was something that Americans did to other Americans. It was inflicted, and endured, by those members of the Special Forces who underwent the advanced form of training known as sere (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape). In these harsh exercises, brave men and women were introduced to the sorts of barbarism that they might expect to meet at the hands of a lawless foe who disregarded the Geneva Conventions. But it was something that Americans were being trained to resist, not to inflict.

The rest of the story: Here It, should, make your stomach turn.

Blaming the Economy (and Bush)

I'm out reading this morning. Seems a number of the blogs I frequent are blaming Bush and the economy for Starbucks woes that are forcing the close of 500 stores. I think it's dead wrong and is what, IMO, happens when you filter your life through your ideology.

I would say it was over-expansion rather than the economy that really caused the problem. Let's face it, their badly over-roasted, overly-sugared coffee houses are everywhere. And, if you were a business major, instead of Liberal Arts, and didn't sleep through your business school classes, you might have learned the lessons of the United Colors of Benetton (Benetton Group) and their over-expansion woes in the 1970s. Not that they're the only one. They were just one of many that were taught at the time (along with Woolworths).

Now, instead of placing blame where it belongs (with management) you could be like just about every other man-jack CEO and take credit for each and every success and blame the economy (or other vague forces) for every mistake. Because, frankly, that's what they do each and every time.

Or, you could be honest and realize that nobody seems to learn the lessons of history and business routinely over-expand until the excess expansion causes problems do to the dis-economies of scale you typically experience in rapid expansions. It should be no surprise to people that over-heated expansion of businesses is one of top reasons companies end up in bankruptcy court, forced mergers or business down-sizing restructures. We see it all the time, even when the economy is going strong Boston Chicken (aka Boston Market), CompUSA, Media Play, Planet Hollywood, etc. have all gone out of business/restructured/merged during a relatively solid economy. The sad fact is we see it everywhere, all the time, regardless of the status of the economy. If we bother to look.

And we don't need to blame the economy. Or Bush. Those are cop-outs. Blame Bush for what he's done and, hope every day like I do, that someday justice is served and he's arrested, tried for war-crimes, then rots in a cockroach infested prison for the rest of his life.

But Starbucks? No...

Starbucks is in a small amount of trouble because they over-expanded to gain market share regardless of potential profitability. These 500 stores should have never been founded. And now that poor planning and management have been exposed in the down-turn, suddenly it's (like always) the fault of someone else.

Oh boy...

From Respectful Insolence:

This is depressing: Barack Obama promises to expand the Office of Faith-based Initiatives
Category: Politics • Religion
Posted on: July 1, 2008 12:00 PM, by Orac

(Note Addendum before commenting, please.)

Is there any candidate who still supports the separation of church and state anymore? Heck, even Barack Obama seems to be pandering to the religious base these days:

CHICAGO -- Reaching out to evangelical voters, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is announcing plans to expand President Bush's program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and -- in a move sure to cause controversy -- support some ability to hire and fire based on faith.
Obama was unveiling his approach to getting religious charities more involved in government anti-poverty programs during a tour and remarks Tuesday in Zanesville, Ohio, at Eastside Community Ministry, which provides food, clothes, youth ministry and other services.

"The challenges we face today ... are simply too big for government to solve alone," Obama was to say, according to a prepared text of his remarks obtained by The Associated Press. "We need all hands on deck."

Obama's announcement is part of a series of events leading up to Friday's Fourth of July holiday that are focused on American values.

So, I guess we add the First Amendment to the Fourth for "Amendments Barak Obama is going to trash"...

BTW, I see the tremendous double-standard on the left about this. If Bush was blathering this load of crap, the Kossites and other Obama-bot sites would be screaming to high heaven. Yet, I'm not seeing much criticism for this obvious pandering to religion through promises of taxpayer money flowing into their coffers.

And to think, all I wanted to read about was science today. But Obama is, like Elvis, everywhere. And not in a good way.

Buyer's remorse setting in...

As Obama shows his lack of spine, vision and, well, lack of everything Presidential:

Wrong again Obama
By Libby (The Impolitic)

I just don't get it. I'm beginning to think that the Democratic party has entered into some kind of unholy pact to lose elections. What happened to that savvy candidate I voted for in the primary? I mean, I understand the need to push back against bad narratives in the internet age, but Obama's rapid response on Wes Clark's remark is so wrong. Michael Scherer reports:

Sure enough, just as I was about to publish this blog post, I got an email from Obama spokesman Bill Burton: "As he's said many times before, Senator Obama honors and respects Senator McCain's service, and of course he rejects yesterday's statement by General Clark."

I've already addressed this both at the Detroit News and at Newshoggers this morning. McCain's military service record shouldn't be an issue in this campaign but McCain himself has made it a central part of his "experience" argument and the media echoes it ad infinitum. You can't just ignore it when he's using it as his prime qualifier for office.

Clark was right. Getting shot down and spending five years as a POW is not the kind of experience that qualifies someone to make command decisions in military conficts. Nothing in McCain's military past qualifies as high level leadership experience and Obama allows him to paint it as so at his own peril.

I would go even further and say, in agreement with Jill, that McCain's POW status doesn't even qualify him as a "war hero." He was a victim of the war, he didn't save any lives while he was sitting in a cage in the jungle. That's not to say his contribution to that war wasn't worthwhile, or lacking in courage, just that it wasn't heroic in the customary sense. In fact, the claim diminishes the real heroism of the men who spent their years in the Nam in actual combat.

I don't expect it's politically expedient for Obama to go that far in challenging McCain's "war credentials" but in meekly accepting the false experience narrative he leaves himself looking afraid to fight back against McCain's implication that he lacks the guts to make tough decisions.

Update: I see Fogg and I are on the same wavelength here but as usual, Fogg says it better.

I think the only thing Obama stands for is getting elected.

Libby might disagree. But Libby's invested in Obama. I'm not and haven't been for a year (when I first looked at his candidacy).