March, 2011 archive
Stray Thought 0
The writers for Criminal Minds are some sick puppies to come up with the plots they do.
But Garcia runs Linux, so they are forgiven.
On! Wisconsin 0
Thoreau considers teabaggery, explaining why he does not consider it “conservative,” but radical. A nugget:
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
Bill Shein on the voter fraud fraud. A nugget:
(snip)
The United States has a long, dark history of making it difficult for certain groups of Americans to vote – something that is now unconstitutional. Where’s the Constitution-defending Tea Party on this issue? Oddly, pushing restrictive voter ID laws wherever it can.
Real election fraud occurs when partisan officials move polling places, improperly purge voter rolls, allocate voting machines in ways that create long lines in certain precincts, and so on. Or when corrupt elections officials engage in illegal shenanigans. Voter ID laws won’t address these problems. But instituting professional, nonpartisan election administration would. Where’s the fast-track legislation for that?
Read the whole thing and don’t let the voter fraud fraudsters defraud your fellow citizens of their votes.
The Galt and the Lamers 0
They brook no questions, for what they say goes. Facing South reports:
Approaching their 10th month on strike, the workers from Omnova Solutions wanted to ask the CEO just how the company had found enough money to grant the CEO a 90 percent pay increase — boosting his take-home to $3.5 million a year — while they were asked to forget about seniority and choke down benefit givebacks that amount to a 15 percent pay cut.
The strikers didn’t get the chance. Prepared for their arrival, the company, which makes vinyl-coated wall coverings used in hotels, denied access to most of the strikers, although they carried proxies from other shareholders.
In the olden days, these folks were called “Robber Barons.”
Stray Question 0
Listening to this, I wonder why the phrase “in this day and age” in a statement so often presages something blitheringly idiotic?
In Lingo Veritas 0
The Philly Daily News in a editorial supporting Elizabeth Warren’s conduct in organizing Consumer Financial Products Bureau. Emphasis added.
Later, Bachus amended his comments to allow that well, of course, there should be some bank regulation, but his worldview – and that of his colleagues – is apparent. And the 2 1/2 hours they spent haranguing consumer champion Elizabeth Warren at a House subcommittee hearing last week banished any doubt.
Facebook Frolics 0
Facebook’s login page now defaults to all spying all the time “Keep Me Logged In.”
If you log in with that checked and you later close the page without explicitly logging out, you remain logged in. Facebook can continue to track your online behavior so they can sell you to the highest bidder.
Furthermore, if you uncheck the box for one login, Facebook rechecks it the next time you open the login page, so that you must clear the checkbox each time you open the login page.
Facebook, no doubt, will assert that they have done this for your convenience.
Means and Ends 0
Mike Littwin considers yet another war:
This is how wars start. And in this case, the war starts without any real debate, without a word spoken in Congress, without any philosophic discussion about when or where to use force.
How wars end, though, is another matter.
The whole thing is worth a read.
Drinking Liberally Virginia Beach 0
Struggling start-up needs your help.
When: Thursday, March 24, 6 p
Where:
Kelly’s Tavern
1936 Laskin Rd, # 201
Virginia Beach, Va. (Map)
Small Fries 0
(snip)
Probes into Georgia failed bank cases now have returned criminal indictments or convictions in four of the state’s nation-leading 57 failures since mid-2008.
The Messrs. BIg, though, are still on the loose. And will likely remain that way.
Of Camels and Gnats 0
The ability of persons who call themselves religious to be silly continually surprises me. I know it shouldn’t after all the years, but really . . . .
The Roanoke Times reports on Christians who don’t practice yoga, they practice “Praise Moves.” It just looks like yoga.
An excerpt; read the whole thing for the full impact of silly in the name of God:
Muslim clerics in Egypt and Malaysia have made similar comments. Jewish theologians also have explored the argument, giving rise to “Torah yoga” classes.
“It’s a question of how we define Hinduism, how we define yoga,” said Roanoke College religion professor Eric Rothgery, an expert on South Asian religions.
The query arises in academic and religious circles every few years. In 1989, for example, the Vatican issued a document warning Catholics that “proposals to harmonize Christian meditation with Eastern techniques need to have their contents and methods ever subjected to a thorough-going examination” to prevent adopting Hinduism and Budhism.
Truly, these folks could easily swallow a camel even as they strain at a gnat.
iGag (Updated) 0
Warning: Language.
Via Linux Outlaws.
Addendum, Later That Same Afternoon:
Lisa Scottolini, mystery novelist and writer columnist for the ex-local rag, discusses her plans to sell her rough drafts because, hey! Apple does it. An excerpt:
And so do you.
Apple makes fraud cool.
iFraud.
There’s an App for That 0
er, yeah.
Apple is under fire from gay rights activists after it approved an iPhone and iPad app targeting “homosexual strugglers”.
More than 80,000 people have signed a petition against the so-called “gay cure” app, which Apple deemed to have “no objectionable content”.
Exodus International, the pro-Christian group behind the app, promotes the “ex-gay” movement, encouraging people to change their sexuality. The app gives users “freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus”, according to the group.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Teaching politeness to youth in Deadwood, Pennsylvania, (Not to condone teen drinking, but I don’t think it’s a capital offense.):
Every town a Dodge, every high noon a shoot out.
