The Stinging Nettle

BRAAAAAAAAAAIIIIINNNNNNNNNS!!!!!!

2011-04-25T10:31:00.000-04:00

The microbiology of zombiefication, or at least one potential type.

The research on aerosols made of Mad Cow mentioned in the article is truly terrifying.

Why do they hide this Obama?

2011-04-15T13:49:00.001-04:00

Obama, with his mike open, at a private dinner. MORE OF THIS, IN PUBLIC, PLEASE:

"When Paul Ryan says his priority is to make sure, he's just being America's accountant and trying to you know be responsible, this is the same guy that voted for two wars that were unpaid for, voted for the Bush tax cuts that were unpaid for, voted for the prescription drug bill that cost as much as my health care bill -- but wasn't paid for. So it's not on the level."

Teddy Roosevelt: Republican

2011-04-15T00:44:00.000-04:00

Can you imagine what he would be called today if he gave this speech, say, in response to the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United, or in a rebuke to Congressman Paul Ryan's misanthropic joke of a budget?

"Now, this means that our government, National and State, must be freed from the sinister influence or control of special interests. Exactly as the special interests of cotton and slavery threatened our political integrity before the Civil War, so now the great special business interests too often control and corrupt the men and methods of government for their own profit. We must drive the special interests out of politics. That is one of our tasks to-day. Every special interest is entitled to justice-full, fair, and complete-and, now, mind you, if there were any attempt by mob-violence to plunder and work harm to the special interest, whatever it may be, that I most dislike, and the wealthy man, whomsoever he may be, for whom I have the greatest contempt, I would fight for him, and you would if you were worth your salt. He should have justice. For every special interest is entitled to justice, but not one is entitled to a vote in Congress, to a voice on the bench, or to representation in any public office. The Constitution guarantees protection to property, and we must make that promise good. But it does not give the right of suffrage to any corporation.

The true friend of property, the true conservative, is he who insists that property shall be the servant and not the master of the commonwealth; who insists that the creature of man’s making shall be the servant and not the master of the man who made it. The citizens of the United States must effectively control the mighty commercial forces which they have called into being.

There can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains. To put an end to it will be neither a short nor an easy task, but it can be done.

* * *

The absence of effective State, and, especially, national, restraint upon unfair money-getting has tended to create a small class of enormously wealthy and economically powerful men, whose chief object is to hold and increase their power. The prime need to is to change the conditions which enable these men to accumulate power which it is not for the general welfare that they should hold or exercise. We grudge no man a fortune which represents his own power and sagacity, when exercised with entire regard to the welfare of his fellows. Again, comrades over there, take the lesson from your own experience. Not only did you not grudge, but you gloried in the promotion of the great generals who gained their promotion by leading their army to victory. So it is with us. We grudge no man a fortune in civil life if it is honorably obtained and well used. It is not even enough that it should have been gained without doing damage to the community. We should permit it to be gained only so long as the gaining represents benefit to the community. This, I know, implies a policy of a far more active governmental interference with social and economic conditions in this country than we have yet had, but I think we have got to face the fact that such an increase in governmental control is now necessary.

No man should receive a dollar unless that dollar has been fairly earned. Every dollar received should represent a dollar’s worth of service rendered-not gambling in stocks, but service rendered. The really big fortune, the swollen fortune, by the mere fact of its size, acquires qualities which differentiate it in kind as well as in degree from what is possessed by men of relatively small means. Therefore, I believe in a graduated income tax on big fortunes, and in another tax which is far more easily collected and far more effective-a graduated inheritance tax on big fortunes, properly safeguarded against evasion, and increasing rapidly in amount with the size of the estate."

Teddy Roosevelt, The New Nationalism Speech, 1910

Rep. Eric Cantor is a terrorist

2011-04-13T00:33:00.002-04:00

What else do you call someone who threatens devastation if he doesn't get his political way?

What Chris Says

2011-04-12T11:00:00.002-04:00

What is going on now in Raleigh in the name of "tort reform" is little more than criminality. Chris Nichols says it far better than I can. Go read it.

Defects in Legal Education

2011-04-12T10:48:00.001-04:00

So the President is going to adopt the debt reduction position of the Simpson-Bowles Catfood Commission. Wonderful.

It astounds me that a guy can become editor of Harvard Law Review and a Constitutional Law professor at the University of Chicago, let alone President of the United States, and, from all appearances, never once have learned anything about the strategy and tactics of negotiation. One class in Alternative Dispute Resolution would have done it.

Instead, we get to see the President tell his opponents exactly how far he's willing to go, which is much farther than he should go, and then fight off their intransigent opposition, get pulled to their side, and anger his base.

Stop me if you've heard this before. The President is going to announce a major initiative, after first giving in on a point that a significant portion of his base feels should be non-negotiable. Then he's going to propose it, and it will be met by complete rejection by the other side, who will propose some draconian ridiculousness that they will claim is the only acceptable position. Then they will bash him as a communist because he doesn't accept their position.

The President will then slowly negotiate his way to their side, using certain "moderate" Senators to float his series of cave-ins, all with the net effect of making him look like his original position is losing support in the Senate, leading to a series of stories about how he is weakening.

Then, in a last push just before a crucial deadline, he will win support of something that has the same name as what he proposed, but, because the GOP controls the House, contains things we never would support. And then the President will declare victory.

He is doing this all within two years of a major election, so that his base will be demoralized just in time to face the opposition, who will never have ceased calling him a traitor and a communist, such that his signature achievement is belittled, watered down, and ultimately politically damaging to his own party.

Sound familiar?

All for the want of a negotiation skills seminar.

Hey, how ya been?

2011-04-11T23:16:00.000-04:00

So I've been thinking that facebook and twitter, with their instant feedback and quick-shot ability to tell the world what you are thinking, are resulting in my thought processes being truncated, half-baked and aimed solely at the cheap laugh or the cutting insult.

Gone are the days of well-thought out posts about any number of issues, in long form, inviting comment and challenging readers to open their minds and weigh in.

But enough about Sharpedo and Shoveldog's posts, let's talk about mine.

I put so much of myself into this blog for so long, that I really want to get back into it. I want to keep writing, and I want to quit overwhelming my friends with my political posts on facebook.

So, if all goes as planned, I will begin again here at The Stinging Nettle, nearly 10 years after it originally started. It had become a diary of sorts. An uncomfortably public diary at times, but one in which I did much of my best writing. I haven't written a thing in two years on facebook of which I can say that.

So, let's see if we can get this started again, shall we?

Renee Ellmers's Racist Ad

2010-09-22T16:58:00.001-04:00

Congressman Bob Etheridge is the Congressman from the Second District of North Carolina. The Second District stretches from downtown Raleigh, through the suburbs of Southern Wake County, and into the surrounding suburbs and farmland of Johnston and counties south. It's a changing area, formerly rural, now rapidly urbanizing. It is the very definition of a swing district.

Now, thanks to the Tea Party, Congressman Etheridge is in a dogfight. And he's fighting a woman, Renee Ellmers, who has risen to Tea Party prominence on the back of a campaign against the Health Reform Plan, a campaign based on misinformation and gullible people who don't read for themselves.

But she just outed herself as a racist Islamophobe in her new campaign ad.

I promise you, you won't believe this one.

Today, the racist Mrs. Ellmers issued her very first ad. It's not about Congressman Etheridge. It's not even about Renee Ellmers, who she is, or why she's running for Congress.

It's a racist appeal to the worst elements of the Republican Party. Take a look:

If you want another Tea Party embarrassment to get elected, then ignore this, and let Bob Etheridge fight by himself.

But if you want to fight this kind of crap, and show the world that North Carolina and America do not reward extremists of ANY sort, then help Bob.

If you want to reward a true Democrat who cast tough votes FOR our agenda, then reward Bob. Unlike some Democratic Congressmen in this state who opposed their President's agenda (ahem, McIntyre, ahem, Shuler) or promised to support it and then voted against it (looking at you Kissell), Bob Etheridge told you how he would vote and then he supported the health care reform plan when asked to do so. He's a good man in a bad fight.

Here is Bob's wonderful statement on his health care vote.

And now you know what is opposing him. Racism. Ugliness. Extremism. Ignorance.

I think it's the worst ad ever in North Carolina politics.

And that is saying something.

Really saying something:

.I just gave money to Bob Etheridge.

.You can too.

Cross posted at The Daily Kos.

*edited. She's not a doctor. Good.

Hell No

2010-04-28T22:57:00.001-04:00

The Carolina Coast, 2009.

The Carolina Coast, 2029?

Hell no.

Interesting post showing the differences between American and non-American attitudes

2010-04-08T15:42:00.002-04:00

I'm watching the UK elections with some interest so this article, linked via Andrew Sullivan (who's starting to annoy me but that's another post), was of interest too. Background: the person who would become Home Secretary (equivalent to Secretary of the Interior) was commenting on a B&B operator who wanted not to rent rooms to gay couples. I'm not so concerned here about the subject matter of the article as about this comment:

Grayling's excuses for allowing on-going discrimination against gay people are bizarre. Nobody is forced to open a B&B. They choose to do so – and that means they can't turn away people based on arbitrary prejudices.

In the USA, that example would be turned completely on its head. It would read: "Nobody is forced to stay in a particular B&B. They choose to do so - and that means they can't force the owners to accept people they would want to turn away based on arbitrary prejudices." Because in the USA private parties are allowed to discriminate if they want to and there's not really all that much one can do about it.(*)

Americans often find it curious how non-Americans don't see the world the same way they do. This felt like a good way to show one difference in how a legal principle can set your way for viewing society.

(*) Yes I know that hotels are addressed specifically by an interstate commerce judgment whose cite I can't remember right now. But since it's the Masters and Augusta discriminates against women with no sanction, maybe you'll take the bigger point.

Here comes the science...

2010-03-14T15:43:00.002-04:00

From TFA:

The February issue of Personality and Social Psychology Review has published a meta-analysis of 55 independent studies conducted in the United States which considers surveys of over 20,000 mostly Christian participants. Religious congregations generally express more prejudiced views towards other races. Furthermore, the more devout the community, the greater the racism.
We also read this additional fascinating conclusion from the authors' summary:

"The authors failed to find that racial tolerance arises from humanitarian values, consistent with the idea that religious humanitarianism is largely expressed to in-group members. Only religious agnostics were racially tolerant."

Seriously. What the hell is wrong with you people?

2010-03-13T01:37:00.001-05:00

Republican Terri Leo, a member of the powerful Christian conservative voting bloc, called the standards "world class" and "exceptional."

Yes, those are the words I would use. But as adjectives.

Oh, Canada

2010-03-10T15:29:00.000-05:00

The effect of hockey on Canadian toiletry, graphically demonstrated.

The Jihad 7

2010-03-09T17:20:00.002-05:00

Am I the only one who thinks that, if/when the Jihad 7 or whatever the hell they're called produce a report on detainee treatment, they might not advocate for turning them all free with 40 acres and a mule or whatever we do in this country these days to people whose lives we've ruined? And if so, does that mean they were too soft on them because of time spent representing them? Or maybe it's evidence that representing them didn't make them soft?

I get dizzy from all the excitement.

Why Liberals and Atheists are More Intelligent

2010-03-01T14:05:00.002-05:00

Hey, I'm not the one saying it, I'm just the one proving it's true.

"The Savanna-IQ Interaction Hypothesis, derived from the Savanna Principle and a theory of the evolution of general intelligence, suggests that more intelligent individuals may be more likely to acquire and espouse evolutionarily novel values and preferences (such as liberalism and atheism and, for men, sexual exclusivity) than less intelligent individuals, but that general intelligence may have no effect on the acquisition and espousal of evolutionarily familiar values (for children, marriage, family, and friends)."

Market-subsidized health insurance

2010-02-28T18:38:00.002-05:00

Citing the examples of the mobile phone providers offering subsidized handsets in exchange for a multi-year service commitment and Google providing free broadband (to say nothing of tools like this) in exchange for ad sales, Mark Cuban asks whether there might be room for companies to provide health insurance to their customers and not just their employees. He goes on to suggest that perhaps for a commitment to buy all staple products from Walmart, Walmart could provide health insurance.

Interesting idea, but I'd revise a bit. What if, instead of a commitment to buy, you actually had to hook up your bank account so there would be an EFT of $X per month from you to Walmart and you'd get $X in Walmart store credit. That is, you'd get the full value of your transfer but it would only be usable at Walmart. Then Walmart would provide you with health insurance "for free" - it's free to you but not really because Walmart makes the profit from the goods you buy.

I don't know that I like this idea, but it's interesting to see someone finally think outside the box about ways the market could provide health insurance. Would the Reps actually consider recommending something like this though? Don't hold your breath: that would be suggesting a solution. That feels too much like work.

Oops...

2010-02-26T18:26:00.000-05:00

"After years of speaking publicly about her belief that MMR shots (immunization for measles, mumps, and rubella) caused her son to suffer from autism, Jenny McCarthy now faces the reality that her 7-year-old son Evan — who no longer shows any signs of autism — may likely have lived with completely different illness."

Oops. Tough break about that whole "encouraging people not to protect their children against deadly diseases" thing.

We all knew this was coming...

2010-02-26T14:43:00.000-05:00

It was then, witnesses claim, that there was a tearing of the heavens, and the skies receded as does a scroll when it is rolled up, and anecdotes about everyday middle-class Alaskan families were enunciated in down-to-earth tones.

"That's right, partner," Palin said, as every mountain and island moved from its place, and flames overtook the lakes and the rivers and the seas. "Thanks, but no thanks."

Jim Bunning is exceedingly lucky I don't live in DC

2010-02-26T10:56:00.001-05:00

Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY), on his best days merely a cranky, out of touch old coot, has reached a new low.

Yesterday, on the floor of the Senate, he stood alone in objecting to unanimous consent to continue Federal Unemployment Benefits. And then he complained that the effort and time he was putting into starving some Americans of needed support was costing him a chance to attend the Kentucky-South Carolina basketball game. The man deserves to have a ball from that game jammed somewhere where he would have an exceedingly difficult time extracting it without surgical help.

"Why so angry, DFL?" you ask? Because this one senile sunuvabitch is depriving a member of my family of unemployment benefits he needs to survive, that's why. I have a family member who lost his job last Spring, and has two teenage boys and a mortgage. He's in his late 50s and lives in a part of the country with more than 20% unemployment. The day before he was laid off he was a successful salesman. The next day, no job. No hope for a job. And two kids heading to college in the next two years.

So pardon me, Senator (and I use that word only in the sense that the people of Kentucky were stupid enough to entrust you with Henry Clay's seat, not because you deserve any respect), if I don't give a rat's hind parts whether you go see Kentucky's semi-professionals take on South Carolina. In fact, I'm glad you didn't get to go, since your evil, combined with that of Coach Calipari, might have been too much for Rupp Arena to contain.

The Internet still hasn't repealed Treaty of Westphalia

2010-02-24T15:36:00.004-05:00

Very interesting lawsuit in Italy results in Google execs being convicted for 6-month suspended sentences, according to C|Net. Google Video users uploaded a video of a kid with Down's Syndrome being teased, and when notified Google took down the video, but Italian law appears to consider this a criminal invasion of privacy. Google, not surprisingly, is appealing.

The Google argument in the press is hardly surprising: that the Internet is built on principles of free speech, that the notice-and-takedown provisions of EU law should have insulated them, and similar arguments that we've heard before from others and also from Google in other contexts (e.g. the AdWords trademark infringement suits).

I had the opportunity to speak recently with some people from the Department of Commerce about Internet regulation and raised this point with them: that protections like notice-and-takedown exist to protect ISPs but that they should be a shield, not a sword, and maybe you shouldn't build an entire business based on the existence of a defense. Google is making this same mistake. They will have no copyright infringement liability for a video if they take it down, sure: maybe I agree with that and maybe I don't but it's at least an arguable position. But this doesn't mean they escape all liability for everything.

The fact that their business model would break if they had to pre-review all videos: that's unfortunate, but no one forced them to make this their business. I may have an awesome idea about how to monetize the distribution of medicinal marijuana but that doesn't mean I get to do it. They have decided to go into the business of allowing people to post videos and only doing takedowns if they get complaints: fine, that's their choice. But Italy has decided to criminalize distribution of information that violates a person's privacy in the way that their courts have found this video did, and that's their choice too. And since 1648 states have been allowed to make laws inside their own jurisdictions, so in a dispute between a company and a government it's not like anyone should be surprised who wins.

Put a Tiger in your tank

2010-02-19T18:27:00.002-05:00

Is there anyone else out there who thought Tiger's news conference was about as interesting as taking two Ambien and watching your grandfather tell stories about the old country? Seriously, it was as well-staged as a grade school play: in front of a big blue curtain with your mom in the front row.

Pathetic. His wife should have pulled out the 9-iron of Thor and killed him where he stood. At least that would have been interesting TV.

Chips hating chips

2010-02-17T20:38:00.002-05:00

In keeping with my penchant for (a) The Economist and (b) The Book of Revelation, a great story about a VA law to prohibit involuntary implantation of microchips in humans so they won't have the mark of the Beast upon them. Added bonus: the law was sponsored by State Senators Chip Pearson and Chip Rogers.

America, folks. You can't make this stuff up.

How long was she governor again?

2010-02-11T01:06:00.002-05:00

Oh yeah, 3 and a half years. Now where have I heard that before... I know it's familiar... tip of my tongue...

[Revelation 13] 1And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads; and on its horns were ten diadems, and on its heads were blasphemous names. 2And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And the dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority. 3One of its heads seemed to have received a death-blow, but its mortal wound had been healed. In amazement the whole earth followed the beast. 4They worshipped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?’

5 The beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.

6It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7Also, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. It was given authority over every tribe and people and language and nation, 8and all the inhabitants of the earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slaughtered.

Oh yeah, that's it. I knew I had heard of her before.

Ladies! I'm Back!

2010-02-11T01:01:00.003-05:00

After an extended trip AWOL, I'm back like a cold sore. It's been a fun year hasn't it? To give just one example, we've seen:

- People get all excited about government-run health care without thinking about the awesome new taxes it'll bring (when I left Quebec I was paying 52% income tax and 15.56% sales tax).

AND

- People get all excited about killing government-run health care because they think it'll raise their taxes too high, without considering that if their employer is paying $6,000 CPH/year for health care then, unless they're making over $50K/year, that's the exact same thing as paying those taxes above to the government except that you're paying it to some random health insurance company.

The awesomeness is killing me. I have my snark on. This should be a fun ride.

GOP Rep says Bush Administration responsible for 9/11

2009-12-28T10:08:00.001-05:00

OK, not in those words, but Congressman Pete Hoekstra did say it is "appropriate" to hold an administration responsible for a terror attack that occurs less than one year after that administration takes office.

Let the backing and filling begin

2009-12-16T11:21:00.003-05:00

I don't want to say I told you so. But I told you so.

The slumbering giant has awakened, and this school board messes with the status quo at its own electoral peril. They will need to be deliberate, careful and attentive to public opinion (the REAL public, not the 15% of radicals represented by Called2Action and AmericansforProsperity (i.e., a few nutjobs stirred up by large conservative foundation money)).

Otherwise . . . as soon as they touch Enloe, they're toast.

Unreal

2009-11-29T00:15:00.002-05:00

The new guard wants to shake things up

2009-11-09T12:30:00.002-05:00

So the first two decisions they announce by press release are:

(1) 'We're going to stop construction on a school already on the path to construction, and thereby ensure that millions of dollars will have been wasted."

and

(2) "We're going to reverse the Wednesday early release policy a few weeks after new school zone signs just went up all over Raleigh." Why? So they can be different from the previous board. You see, that's what's important. Being "not the previous board."

In the meantime, the News & Observer had an article this weekend which portends doom for the new Board. They are about to walk right into a hornets' nest of resistance, which is what happens when you misconstrue a victory on one issue in a low turnout election as an overwhelming mandate to scrap everything.

So, they're going after the magnet program. They're coming after Enloe High School.

If they do that, this is likely to be the shortest-tenured school board in Wake County history.

Insanity

2009-10-28T15:41:00.003-04:00

"The very definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." Albert Einstein (attr.)

Case in point, John Fox, "coach" of the freaking Carolina Panthers.

DelHomme has thrown 13 interceptions in 7 games. Matt Moore must really suck.

Bystanders?

2009-10-28T15:37:00.002-04:00

No. I don't think so. Accessories. Conspirators. Let's hope "codefendants."

Attention, Senators Conrad, Carper, Nelson, Pryor, and Lincoln

2009-10-20T11:10:00.003-04:00

GET WITH THE FREAKIN' PROGRAM.

Washington Post: Clear Majority Now Backs Plan.

Public option support at 57 percent of all Americans (70% of Democrats and 52% of Independents).

When the question states asks the respondents if they would support the plan if the "public plan were run by the states and available only to those who lack affordable private options" support jumps to 76 Percent of all voters. FIFTY-SIX PERCENT OF REPUBLICANS.

So tell me why five erstwhile Democratic Senators are holding the whole thing up.

Mr. President, it's time to start identifying primary challengers.

Gee, you think?

2009-10-20T11:05:00.002-04:00

I don't usually find these people to be worth the time to comment, but I do worry about the kids, which is why this headline struck me as a "DUH" moment.

Kate: My Kids are Struggling.

Gee, you think that might be because their narcissistic parents paraded them in front a TV camera for a year and are now acting like spoiled brats?

First Place in the category of "Things you Should Have Written About LAST Month."

2009-10-11T20:29:00.002-04:00

To the incomparable T. Keung Hui of the News & Observer, who felt it necessary last week to call my post below "angry" and overly emotional, but today wrote this gem:

The newcomers will also have to decide quickly whether to start on the promised neighborhood schools plan for North Carolina's largest school district. Such far-reaching change would sharply overhaul the way Wake's 140,000 students are assigned to schools, causing one more disruption for families that candidates promised to end.
* * *

If Wake County restores neighborhood schools, the change would have a dramatic effect on the magnet school program. Most of the county's magnet schools, with special areas of emphasis such as performing arts and foreign languages, were sited in lower-income areas near downtown Raleigh specifically to integrate and diversify them.

Many children who live in these urban neighborhoods are now bused to the suburbs to free spots for suburban students drawn to the highly touted magnets.

A return to neighborhood schools would mean that magnet schools would have to absorb the returning local children and potentially jettison the suburban students. When the Charlotte-Mecklenburg system ended busing for diversity in 2002, some schools lost their magnet programs to accommodate children from the neighborhood.

Gee, ya think?

Thanks for doing your homework after the test.

Nobel

2009-10-09T11:15:00.001-04:00

The person least happy to get that phone call at this point in the political world was probably sitting in the Oval Office. I think maybe the Nobel Committee did the President no favors.

Is he supposed to announce a deployment of 40,000 more troops to a war zone the week after winning the Nobel Peace Prize?

Congratulations to the President. According to the Committee, you won this award based upon the promise of change in America's approach to the rest of the World. Let's fulfill it.

Forward to 1948!

2009-10-08T10:59:00.005-04:00

Reports of the death of this blog are exaggerated.

In fact, greatly so. Sure, we've been gone a while. Sharpedo has been travelling and generally fulfilling whatever duties an officer in a mega corporation aimed at the world's impressionable youngsters has, and I have been busting my rear. When you do bankruptcy and commercial creditor's rights law, a recession is plate-spinning time.

Plus, facebook has given me another outlet for pictures of my beautiful kids, my useless trivia and urge to try to be witty on a daily basis. It also provides a forum for Winston to routinely call me wrong. So that has not been here.

But really, what has been lacking since November has been a foil. I couldn't go after the media. Jon Stewart does that to perfection every evening. I don't have time to chronicle the endless displays of spineless jellytude put on by the Democratic "leadership" in Congress. DailyKos is already all over that with the depth and breadth (if uneven quality) that only a cloud-computing megasite can bring to the subject.

So what did I have to write about? Not much, and certainly not much that warranted taking 10 minutes out of an already jam-packed day to sit down and compose something other than a quick facebook status hit.

Now, however, we've got something. Tuesday the voters of Wake County decided to urinate all over Harold Webb's legacy and soundly rejected socioeconomic diversity as a goal in education. In so doing, they handed the reins of the best school system in North Carolina over to the anti-busing, anti-magnet school, anti-diversity, anti-year round, anti-sex ed, anti-science, anti-arts, anti-tax right wing. Let's hear it for Topeka!

So the parents who whined about reassignment are about to start reassigning students all over the place - enforcing a policy that requires you to go to the school nearest your house - regardless of how crappy or overcrowded that school might be. And when they come to take my kids out of Lynn Road and put them in Jeffery's Grove, well... let's just say they ain't seen nothing yet.

So this blog, or at least the Wake County side of our editorial board, is now going to focus a little more intently on the new members of the Wake County Board of Education. This should serve as their notice.

I'm ready for Deborah Prickett, et al, to call for tax increases to build the innumerable new schools that their "neighborhood schools" policy is going to require. And if they think they will be able to cannibalize the budgets of schools in established areas of town just to build their realtor friends some shiny new educational palaces in Apex and Wake Forest without a fight, they're REALLY kidding themselves.

Few things are more fun than being an angry voter with an outlet for publication. Let's see what they propose.

Stay tuned...

Heads across America are exploding as Whole Foods becomes progressive bête noire, conservative cause célèbre

2009-08-16T20:18:00.003-04:00

In response to an op-ed written in the WSJ by the CEO of Whole Foods in which he suggests that single-payer health care is a bad idea, Daily Kos readers are now talking of boycotting Whole Foods, which is leading conservatives to talk about supporting Whole Foods by shopping there.

I think my head is exploding.

To promote their health care views, progressives are going to start buying antibiotic-treated meat and non-organic produce at other grocery chains? To support a person who feels that health care is an individual choice, conservatives will buy arugula and $7.99 ground sirloin for their burgers?

Politics makes strange bedfellows indeed.

Save water however you can

2009-08-10T16:48:00.002-04:00

In my continuing saga to provide The News You Need(TM), I present a Brazilian public service announcement urging you to save water by peeing in the shower.

Pee in the shower. Save the Atlantic rainforest. Of course that's how you'd do it.

Wow

2009-08-07T13:40:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite things to do is to hike to a waterfall. North Carolina's mountains are chock full of beautiful waterfalls, and one of the most impressive (and most fun to hike to) is Linville Falls at the head of the Linville Gorge.

Here's Linville Falls on a typical day at a normal flow:

Gorgeous, huh? You fall in, you're dead, but still, gorgeous.

I had heard that Linville Gorge was not somewhere you want to be in a storm. Now I know why. Here is Linville Falls - from the SAME spot - during a flood of the Linville River after Hurricane Ivan ran up into the mountains:

Whoa.

Once again, it's proven . . .

2009-08-05T10:25:00.001-04:00

. . . if you can't get something done . . .

. . . get your husband to do it.

Gone but not forgotten and never boring

2009-08-03T15:56:00.002-04:00

Commenting on the rumor that Sarah and Todd Palin were divorcing, from Sarah herself: "Divorce Todd? Have you seen Todd? I may be just a renegade hockey mom, but I'm not blind!"

If only she were smarter... and not a quitter... a politician who speaks her mind is rare indeed.

Birthday Gifts for President Obama

2009-07-31T19:52:00.002-04:00

From Politico. Look for Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah). Quality. Austan Goolsbee comes a close second.

Andrew Sullivan should STFU

2009-07-29T16:41:00.002-04:00

I usually like Andrew Sullivan. But he goes a bit OCD on certain topics. Sarah Palin's baby was one of them. Obama's birth certificate is another.

To recap:
- The Hawaii governmental authorities have explained that they do electronic recordkeeping. Sullivan asks why they can't release the paper document.
- Now the Hawaii governmental authorities have released the paper document and the Obama people have let factcheck.org review it. Factcheck.org has explained that it's accurate and has all the appearances of a real document. Sullivan asks why factcheck.org is the only group that gets to review the document.

Seriously? Someone has to sit him down and explain the law of diminishing returns. If it's not enough to show it to one group, then do they have to let literally any person off the street come in and look? Does the document have to go on a roadtrip for those who can't afford to go to DC? What about non-Americans, do they have a right to see it too?

He's usually a smart guy but man, is he off his rocker here.

Thoughts on Henry Louis Gates

2009-07-26T23:26:00.002-04:00

It's been done to death, but since I pontificate randomly here I'm thinking I'll give my 2c on the Henry Louis Gates situation.

Am I the only person in America who sees both sides of this?

Gates: He lost his keys and so had to jimmy his lock. How racist/paranoid are *his neighbors* that they would see their own neighbor at his door and call the cops to say he's breaking in (and why hasn't anyone asked this question?)? But he gets inside, relaxing after a long trip, and a cop shows up and is all up in his face. Even after he shows ID the cop won't leave him alone.

Cop: He got a call about a B&E. He shows up and there's a guy hanging out in the house that matches the description of the alleged perp. Yes he can show ID saying that's his house but fake ID is pretty easy to make these days and if you're going to rip off a house in that neighborhood maybe you'd spend the $100 to take care of that too. He asks him a few routine questions and he goes mental. The cop has no idea what's going on, he got called to a B&E remember, so for all he knows this guy is armed. Better to get him down to the station.

And here's the subtext for me: The cop is treating Gates like any other suspected felon. Gates perceives himself as being treated like a felon because he's black. Maybe they're both right. But maybe, and just maybe, Gates is also pissed because he's not supposed to be treated this way.

Let's compare: when the Stanley Cup playoffs were going on, and the New Jersey and Boston fans were showing up at this blog and running their mouths off about how Southerners are all cousin-marrying hicks... That's *the other* Southerners, the white trash ones, and people on this blog aren't white trash, right? So when an outsider says "whatever, you're all the same, you're from the South, you're white trash" that cuts a bit deeper. Doesn't it? And I'm not pointing fingers here: same thing when people try to say all Canadians are self-absorbed Toronto assholes. No we're not. And for the cop, maybe reminding him that there are some racist cops and how would he like to be thought of as a racist, that might get him in the right frame of mind. Or maybe not.

This is a nice way of saying the same thing other people in other places have mentioned about how Gates had his realization that, to a cop, he's just a nigger. Maybe. But we all have groups we don't want to be considered a part of, and we all get upset when we're lumped in with them. Perhaps a bit of realization that the phenomenon is more universal than the media is letting on, maybe that might help to defuse things.

Then again, maybe not.

Awesome exam questions

2009-07-18T11:16:00.002-04:00

A version of this goes around from time to time but it's so awesome that I can't let this one go unmentioned here. I had never seen the one with the epic works of Peter Nguyen, which are at the end of this one. Jimmy McPerson's battles shall never again go unlauded.

Canadians can be dangerous

2009-07-18T05:27:00.000-04:00

I'm not quite sure what this video is. But the Canadian accents are awesome.

A view from the future

2009-07-16T20:09:00.002-04:00

I am currently in London. The Fortune magazine in my hotel room contains a special advertising section on Japan. It contains the following text.

"Meanwhile, engineering professor Toshiyuki Sankai... has developed a robot suit, HAL... [that] can lift heavy objects and with practice the wearer can walk with a reasonably normal gait. Sankai's company, Cyberdyne, has started to manufacture HALs and over time hopes to turn out 500 or so a year."

Yes, that's correct. A company named after the company in Terminator has started to manufacture cyborgs named after the computer in 2001. I can see how this will end well.

Riposte - Microsoft to release free web-based version of Office

2009-07-13T13:24:00.002-04:00

And now we see the reply. Truth: I've known this was coming for a while, so long that I thought they had given up on it (vaporware, who'd have thunk it...). But it's a good way to hit back at Google. You give away a free OS and leverage your web-based tools to get there? Okay, we'll give away a web-based version of our industry-leading tools in return.

Unlike Google's OS I can see the incentive here. If you're a company of any size you probably won't want to run your entire business off web-based tools. Instead you'll want desktop versions of Office. But your employees might work from home, etc., and you'll want to have them have access to the same kinds of tools that they use at work. So you don't cannibalize yourself by doing this. The only sales you "cannibalize" are the people using pirated versions who now can just use your free version, but that's not a sale you're costing yourself.

Remo Williams: the adventure begins... again

2009-07-12T01:28:00.002-04:00

It's official, anything that's a remake can get financing. For those of you who never saw the Fred Ward - Joel Grey - Kate Mulgrew star vehicle that was Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, you missed out on one of the finer bad 80s movies/set of over 100 pulp novels. I think I had about 50 of them that I stole from my old man who thought they were awesome. They were horrible. And the movie was, if possible, worse. Joel Grey played a Korean martial arts expert with a Chinese accent. He could dodge bullets without having to be Keanu Reeves.

I can't wait for this movie.

Note also that the linked article suggests a remake of Robocop. What exactly was wrong with Paul Verhoeven's classic? But I will let that pass because there's also a remake coming of... Red Dawn!

WOLVERINES!

A Farewell to Harms

2009-07-10T11:40:00.002-04:00

Stealing Peggy Noonan's title for her piece today on Sarah Palin. The money quote: "In television interviews she was out of her depth in a shallow pool."

As those of you who were around during the election know, I thought Palin might be an authentic contender for the future. She's shown herself not to be. I think she still thinks she is, but she's not. Noonan gives numerous reasons why she shouldn't be. Worth a read.

Cemetery Junction trailer

2009-07-09T14:58:00.001-04:00

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are working on a new movie called Cemetery Junction. It's a comedy starring Ralph Fiennes. Maybe not the first name you'd think of. Not Ricky's first choice either, apparently. See trailer below.

Thunderdome or hubris? Either way, it's on

2009-07-08T02:10:00.003-04:00

[Long post, I had a lot to say. Also EDIT: I accidentally linked to my wife's alumni magazine for some reason before, so fixed by pointing to Slashdot]

Google has just announced plans for an open-source computer operating system based on the Linux kernel and its Chrome browser for personal netbook computers.

Two men enter, one man leaves... Google has decided to take the fight to Microsoft's house.

This is the stupidest thing they could ever do. Short the stock.

I won't comment on the business sense here, although there are plenty of people who have noted that Google's Chrome browser and Android mobile operating system aren't exactly taking off (including the linked WSJ story). I'll keep to the legal stuff because that's not something you'll see everywhere.

I know a thing or two about law and computer operating systems. If they were easy to make there would be more of them. I've always believed that one aspect of Linux's much-vaunted security is that it doesn't run on many target-rich environments. Yes, the many eyeballs of the open-source community allow for faster bug triaging. But that doesn't mean that grandma will be able to figure out how to patch. Microsoft has patching the consumer computer down to a fine art. And don't get me started on Apple. If more consumers used the Mac, Apple wouldn't be making fun of those security alerts in Vista because the Mac would have them too.

Now Google isn't bad at making software. In particular, they've done very well with search engines. And their own computers run on Linux. Which makes this interesting. Because an interesting thing about Linux is that large parts of it these days are developed by for-profit corporations who then give away the code. That raises a very interesting and to-date unexplored question about dumping.

By definition, giving something away for free implies that you're selling it below cost. And sales below cost are indicative of anticompetitive behavior - they're not proof positive of it, but they definitely show something interesting. The General Public License (GPL) would prohibit Google from doing the most traditional aspect of anticompetitive behavior, which would be to drive Microsoft out of business by giving away free what Microsoft charges for only to start charging later once the competitor is gone, because it's a violation of the GPL to refuse to distribute source that is derived from GPL-licensed code. Unless Google's end game is making its own kernel to replace the Linux one once they have killed off Microsoft.

That would raise some interesting IP questions: if Google writes code that integrates with GPL-licensed code and is open-source, but then replaces the GPL-licensed parts, can it change the license for the parts it wrote? I'd say yes. But the second Google does that, its anticompetitive actions would be clear.

By integrating the Chrome browser Google is raising other interesting issues of tying and bundling also. Microsoft keeps getting in trouble for having an OS with integrated browser. In the USA this is illegal if its effect is to drive a competitor out of business (Microsft made the law on this point). In Europe it's just illegal in and of itself - if there's a company out there that sells a product that you give away for free, you're breaking competition law (Microsoft made the law on this point too). It turns out that Microsoft does sell an operating system that comes with a free browser and search tools. And it turns out that the EU is trying to make Microsoft stop leveraging its OS strength by forcing them to allow users to choose their own browser and search tool. Will the EU force Google to do the reverse?

From a government affairs perspctive it's also interesting in Europe. Just like Microsoft, Google isn't European. And that's one of the biggest reasons the EU hates Microsoft. Little-known fact: one of the biggest funders for the development of open-source software throughout the early years of this millennium was the EU. Mostly-forgotten fact: the French government is funding a "European" search engine called Project Quaero (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2921407/Chirac-backs-eurocentric-search-engine.html). And the EU is constantly going after Google for perceived privacy violations. Imagine how they'd feel about another American company they can't control taking over the world of computing. It doesn't take Nostradamus to think they might go the way of Microsoft and Intel and bring very expensive complaints.

But the difference is, you don't need creative antitrust theories to get Google into court in Europe. Google is actually breaking the law in Europe right now. Google's practice of selling AdWords that are company trademarks keeps being the cause of litigation in Europe, and Google keeps losing. I don't know if they've lost every single suit, but they sure did lose most of them when last I checked. So if they integrate their search tools into the OS, they are one injunction away from not being able to sell the computers bearing their operating system in the EU.

So let's review. We have: a company that is definitely bundling a browser and an operating system (illegal in the USA if you're doing it to kill a competitor, and illegal in Europe in and of itself). This company is going to give away the product that competes with a product that's sold by its competitor. And this company is already the target of investigations for anticompetitive behavior in the USA (remember the books settlement?) and Europe, as well as breaking national laws throughout Europe.

Oh yeah, this is a smart move. How do you short stocks on Fidelity again?

Well, that's one way to avoid government corruption

2009-07-07T15:57:00.000-04:00

"Staff at Nepal's main international airport are to be issued with trousers without pockets, in an attempt to wipe out rampant bribe-taking."

Apparently I wasn't trying hard enough to find crappy ideas

2009-07-06T23:29:00.001-04:00

"Remember View-Master, the Fisher-Price toy with those little 3D picture discs of mountains, rivers and caverns that you could rotate through a viewfinder? Well, DreamWorks is in negotiations to acquire movie rights to the toy from Mattel (which owns Fisher-Price) and has asked Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci to do some "Transformers"-style magic on it."

Yep...

Kids these days...

2009-07-06T17:40:00.002-04:00

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Walkman, the BBC gave one to a 13-year-old kid to see how he reacted to it.

Not well, is the answer.

"My friends couldn't imagine their parents using this monstrous box, but there was interest in what the thing was and how it worked."

"It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape. That was not the only naive mistake that I made; I mistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equaliser, but later I discovered that it was in fact used to switch between two different types of cassette."

Outstanding.

Why I hate ESPN

2009-07-05T13:13:00.002-04:00

I am a rugby fan. A HUGE rugby fan. Yesterday was a World Cup qualifying match between Canada and the USA. Kickoff at 4pm Eastern. I was out for the afternoon so set the TiVo.

Okay, the game started kind of crap. 30 minutes before anyone scored, and then it was drop goals and penalties. 6-6 at the half. For those of you who don't know rugby, this is like watching the first half of a football game and all you get is 2 field goals each. Okay, it's nothing like watching the first half of a football game because it's interesting and there's action rather than a series of set piece battles, but you get the picture.

Funny I should compare to football though...

About 5 minutes before the half I see a horrifying-to-TiVo announcement: that the second half of the game will be on ESPN2. I'm going to miss it. My own damn fault for not staying home. Screw ESPN for booking half the game on one network and the other half on another network.

But wait, that wasn't it.

I notice that the zipper is starting to show that Steve McNair was shot. A tragedy, and we feel for his family, just like we do for every murder victim in America every day, right? As it turns out, no. ESPN has decided to pre-empt the second half of a live sporting event to show highlights of Steve McNair's career, studio commentary, and a talking head at the crime scene. That is, nothing they couldn't have waited an hour to show.

I hate ESPN.

Palin Resigns

2009-07-03T21:14:00.004-04:00

By now you've all seen this, no need to link to anything. She'll give over power to her Lieutenant Governor on July 26. Speculation abounds as to whether she did it to have time for a full campaign for 2012, or whether she quit because she couldn't handle the pressure, or whatever.

I'll put a stick in the ground. Now granted, I'm the guy who said that Mark Sanford was going to try to be a guy for 2012 and look how that worked out. But I don't think Palin, MILFtastic though she may be, is getting some télénovéla on the side. Instead, I think she starts the new paradigm for opposition political campaigns. Get some experience, and then get out in time to run, run, run for up to 4 years. Become a quote whore so that every time someone wants a point-counterpoint to administration policy for CNN or Fox or MSNBC, you're available. It's the old Seinfeld dating strategy. Start out being there for them. Then just be there.

Fascinating to see if it works...

UPDATE: I've been meditating on the timing a bit and have decided that, if she's doing it to further her career and not to end it, it's brilliant. Bury the announcement into the Fourth of July. By the time anyone is paying attention again on Monday it feels like old news, and any commentators who start hammering on it seem like it's because they are obsessed whackjobs who just can't let go rather than people providing insight on a recent event (cough *ANDREW SULLIVAN* cough).

Asteroids, the movie

2009-07-03T12:15:00.002-04:00

I get a lot of entertainment newsletters. See this entry from today.

Universal snags the big screen rights to Atari's classic Asteroids videogame, beating out several other studios, per THR. The Asteroids movie will be penned by Matthew Lopez (The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Race to Witch Mountain) and produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura. Making a movie based on the Asteroids game will be interesting because the game, released back in 1979, has no storyline associated with it at all. Other toy-based movies currently in development at Universal include Hasbro's Battleship and Candyland.

I don't really even have a response to the idea that Universal is making movies based on
- a video game with the least potential storyline ever and only vector graphics
- a board game where you yell out the name of a square on a grid
- a board game where girls run around a candy forest (pre-teen, so stop perving)

I mean, I understand the idea of tie-ins. Hasbro also has a big deal with EA for video games, so it's a big Hasbro-EA-Universal love fest. But seriously, Asteroids? I guess we can all start looking forward to Combat: The Movie.

Michael Jackson video shot 2 days before his death

2009-07-02T16:15:00.002-04:00

This is great because I was worried I wouldn't have anything morbid to share today. Thanks, Larry King!

The cookbook from my college residence is now for sale

2009-07-02T15:20:00.001-04:00

With my wife away for the long weekend, I was wondering what I would eat. Perhaps nothing from here. Although the taste may be similar.

It's like The Onion is reading my mind

2009-07-02T12:37:00.001-04:00

I was always concerned this would happen if gay marriage was legalized. First they make the old people have to watch even if it makes them sad. Next, they'll force us all to have a gay marriage.

Because that's what's happening, right? Otherwise it's NONE OF OUR DAMN BUSINESS.

Oh yeah, Happy Canada Day yesterday. We got another holiday in before you.

The Times opens an ancient debate

2009-06-29T16:41:00.002-04:00

Ghostbusters is better than Star Wars.

"To those who still deludedly think they prefer Star Wars over Ghostbusters, all I need do is ask you this: you don’t really want to be a Jedi, do you? In a greige cowl, getting off with your sister, without a single gag across three films? I think if you thought about it a little while longer, you’d realise that you’d far rather be a Ghostbuster: a nerd in New York with an unlicensed nuclear accelarator on your back, and a one in four chance of being Bill Murray."

Now speaking of Bill Murray, Caddyshack > Ghostbusters, but that's only a matter of opinion.

Poor Farrah

2009-06-26T17:46:00.001-04:00

With all the Michael Jackson news, let's not forget poor Farrah and how she should have taken the advice of that wise sage, Butters.

What a thriller!

2009-06-25T18:46:00.003-04:00

I guess he wasn't already undead.

The Pacific

2009-06-22T17:17:00.003-04:00

Not sure how you can top Band of Brothers, but this will be well-worth seeing:

Look for the miniseries on HBO next year; I understand it has a $200M budget!

Civilization, over.

2009-06-22T01:11:00.004-04:00

I opened up Fark.com tonight and was confronted with this piece of awesome (can't embed the video, link is in the post title, this is an image). Incidentally, it recommends the use of shave gel beforehand and a moisturizing lotion afterward. Because the kind of guy who would do this, I'm SURE he has no experience applying moisturizing lotion around his groin.

Glad that's cleared up then.

Thoughts on violence in Iran

2009-06-20T13:42:00.002-04:00

It appears they are having their Tiananmen Square moment. The police and paramilitaries are attacking civilians, hard. As with previous days, Andrew Sullivan is providing up-to-the-minute Twitter summaries. As he says, take it with a grain of salt. But it looks like there's a bloodbath going on. People getting shot in the streets, people opening their homes to wounded protesters getting shot in their living rooms, hospitals full of police looking to arrest or worse.

As a Canadian I'm conflicted on this, but have to admit that it would be a lot harder to do that kind of thing in the USA thanks to the Second Amendment. People protesting in the street would still not be permitted to carry them, but you could keep the paramilitary thugs out of your house a lot longer with an M-60 than with a stern warning.

Also, people are apparently being tortured to obtain information about how they're organizing. This is the problem with Guantanamo Bay - the USA has very little moral high ground to protest this activity. This is a government that has identified what it believes to be a challenge to its survival by a group of ought-to-be-unorganized people who are somehow able to act in concert, and is attempting to obtain information from them by any means. The only real difference is that we over here sympathize with the people being tortured in this case. This is a real difference - the Iranian protestors deserve support and sympathy and anyone who tries to find equivalency between them and battlefield combatants needs their head examined (although it certainly appears that Guantanamo contains more than battlefield combatants, also). But our moral authority is diminished here. A shame.

William Shatner is a god

2009-06-18T16:26:00.001-04:00

Seriously. If the video doesn't link, check the link in the title. Shatner = best talk show guest ever. I refuse to describe this because it is too awesome.

Possibly the most horrifying commercial product ever.

2009-06-15T15:10:00.001-04:00

In Japan they solve this "problem" with the Space-Shuttle-launching control panel I've previously posted. Here's how America does it.

"Being a big guy has its advantages and disadvantages." Indeed.

Things it is important to remember

2009-06-15T14:36:00.001-04:00

(1) Government-administered healthcare systems or plans are inherently wasteful, expensive, and inefficient. They also produce a poor quality of care and result in unpopular rationing of care and interference in doctor/patient relationships. No country has ever had successful government-run healthcare.

(2) Insurance companies simply cannot compete with a government run system, and should be protected from it at all costs.

(3) There is no contradiction between (1) and (2), and noting such a contradiction means you are a socialist and you hate America.

Welcome to the GOP (and conservative Dem) position on health care reform.

Iran

2009-06-15T14:30:00.003-04:00

Okay, not everyone likes Andrew Sullivan. But he's doing a good public service right now by amalgamating the various threads around the web dealing with the situation in Iran. http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/

I'm actually also a big fan of the comments threads on Fark.com. There are some people there who appear to have family in Iran who are getting first-hand reports.

UPDATE: As always, Hitchens has good insights. http://www.slate.com/id/2220520/

The English are obviously big fans of ours

2009-06-14T16:04:00.001-04:00

"They are wonderful plants really," waxed Simon yesterday. "Very much misunderstood."

Just like some of our readers.

Goths in Hot Weather

2009-06-11T00:41:00.000-04:00

Goths escaping the heat, or not. Awe-inspiring.

If you live in LA, you have somewhere to be on June 10

2009-06-09T15:17:00.002-04:00

Michael Winslow, best-known for his work in Police Academy, will be doing the sound effects to various silent films. if you live in LA, you need to attend.

An anthology of his best work to date (and not including his time on Love Boat):

Gaffney

2009-06-09T10:55:00.007-04:00

Image blatantly stolen from howstuffworks.com

On the way to Atlanta on I-85, travelers pass by the above water tower in Gaffney, South Carolina. The tower, which is supposed to be a peach, is legendary in the Southeast for its resemblance to a large set of buttocks. In essence, Gaffney, South Carolina wants the world to think "huge ass" when it thinks of Gaffney.

And that's fine. Civic pride being what it is, you can't begrudge the effort. The addition of the green leaf at the top and the new paint job has lessened the effect somewhat, but you can't deny that, from certain angles, that is one huge ass.

So, Gaffney = huge ass.

It's heartening to see that the Washington Times is doing its part to maintain that word association. In his most recent drool-spattered screed, Times columnist Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. uncorks a series of jaw-dropping statements that basically amount to "Obama is a muslim terrorist."

Obama, you see, used "peace be upon them" when addressing a muslim audience and discussing Christ, Moses and Mohammed. This is, according to Gaffney, proof that he is really Muslim, since Christ is the Living Son of God and therefore shouldn't have peace wished upon his memory. No really, he actually said that. "When in Rome" must be to Mr. Gaffney an invitation to plunder and rape the entire Mediterranean.

He also contends that such figures of speech are deeply revealing of Obama's true religion, but that his characterizing the bond between Israel and the US as "unbreakable" is "mere lip service."

How easy it must be to live in the world when your world view allows you to distort all fact and reason to fit your own beliefs.

It gets even worse. Check this one out. After noting darkly that Obama was "raised a Muslim in Indonesia," he goes on to state:

This is not to say, necessarily, that Mr. Obama actually is a Muslim any more than Mr. Clinton actually is black. After his five months in office, and most especially after his just-concluded visit to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, however, a stunning conclusion seems increasingly plausible: The man now happy to have his Islamic-rooted middle name featured prominently has engaged in the most consequential bait-and-switch since Adolf Hitler duped Neville Chamberlain over Czechoslovakia at Munich.

Pretty impressive use of a debunked lie about Obama WHILE violating Godwin's law, all in the same paragraph.

So yeah. Gaffney = huge ass.

Kidnapping people to take them to justice

2009-06-09T01:24:00.002-04:00

Saw this via Andrew Sullivan. Apparently the two journalists imprisoned in North Korea were kidnapped by NK security officials from inside China. The blogger suggests that this kind of activity is reprehensible and should be condemned. They also suggest it's a direct consequence of US policy endorsing "extraordinary rendition".

I don't want to go to a North Korean prison any more than the next guy. But it does sound almost exactly like what the Mossad did to Adolf Eichmann in the 1950s. And if I remember correctly, in the 1950s is before the US started doing extraordinary renditions.

Those of us who criticize have an extra duty to be accurate and fair. Not everything is linked to recent US government policies. Ceci n'est pas toujours, n'est presque jamais, une pipe. And when a broken clock is right twice a day, sometimes it's just a coincidence.

[Yes, the story of a kid recovering from a lawnmower accident makes it almost impossible to post my usual snark. Had to find something serious to say.]

Of strength, faith and generosity

2009-06-04T16:51:00.009-04:00

Preston Loyd - a stonger kid, you'll never see.

I went to college with Ashton Loyd, a gregarious mountain of a guy who played football for Davidson. Ashton and I weren't best friends, but we were definitely friends, and Davidson is a small place. There were times when if he wasn't singing the National Anthem at basketball games, I was playing it on my trumpet. Ashton can flat out sing. We've remained in touch from time to time - either at reunions or basketball games and now, especially, on Facebook.

After a brief career as an assistant football coach, Ashton now sells insurance in Mooresville, North Carolina. He married a beautiful woman named Cinamon and together they are raising two children, just down the road from Ashton's parents.

And that is where our story truly begins.

On April 23, Ashton's father was mowing his yard, when Ashton's four-year old son Preston ran out of the back door into the yard, and ran up behind the mower his grandpa was operating. Grandpa never saw him, and backed right over him. The injuries were horrific, and Preston lost most of the blood in his body, half his left lung, all his ribs on his left side, his left kidney, his spleen, and most of his pancreas, and his stomach was ripped from between his esophagus and small intestine. He also has severe lacerations on his head and left arm.

The EMS responders thought both he and his poor grandfather were going to die right there in the yard. But through the spectacular efforts of those responders and the doctors at Levine Childrens Hospital in Charlotte, this is Preston today:

He is sitting up in bed, talking to his friends who come to visit, and arguing with his nurses over whether or not he's allowed to stick his tongue out. He wants to watch SpongeBob, and can tell you exactly who brought him which stuffed animal.

These are all remarkable things. Some, including Preston's parents, would call them miracles.

Throughout the 32 days of their four-year-old's coma, Ashton and Cinamon have been remarkably strong in their faith and their conviction that their son would survive. Even if a person doesn't necessarily share the style of their faith, you cannot help but be in awe of their steadfastness in the face of such adversity. It is truly humbling.

Preston's story has touched thousands through Facebook and the internet, as churches around the country have placed him on their prayer lists. He's become a bit of a celebrity, as even the world of NASCAR has stopped to take notice, and extend a helping hand.

This story on ESPN.com details the accident, and the remarkable act of generosity of NASCAR jack man Jeff Kerr, of Martin Truex's team. Kerr donated his $10,000 first prize in a recent pit skill competition to the Loyds for Preston's medical costs.

If, in reading all this, you are motivated to follow Kerr's lead, you can do so at the Preston Loyd Foundation.

In any event, say a prayer for the little guy. He's got a long way to go, but he's certainly shown the strength to get there.

My knees hurt just watching this

2009-06-02T18:38:00.001-04:00

With friends like these...

2009-06-01T19:19:00.002-04:00

Franco Frattini, the Italian Foreign Minister, also dismissed rumours that the Prime Minister had a romantic interest in Miss Letizia, but he said that sex with girls over the age of 14 was not wrong in principle. Asked by Newsweek magazine if a relationship with Miss Letizia when she was under 18 would have been a crime, Mr Frattini said: “Absolutely not. In Italy it is a crime under the age of 14. Between 14 and 18 is absolutely legal.”

Well, glad that's settled.

"Stanley Cup Elevates NBC on Sunday"

2009-06-01T15:50:00.002-04:00

According to The Hollywood Reporter, hockey took NBC to top spot in the ratings last night.

Could the worm actually be turning? Could Americans finally realize that hockey is more interesting than baseball and football?

Of course, nothing beats rugby. Super 14 final yesterday. You want to see what football should be like, check this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65sUvblIWiA for the 3-minute highlight reel. 80 minutes of solid running, at altitude (Pretoria is 5,000 feet above sea level).

A Tale of Two Talibans

2009-05-31T20:45:00.005-04:00

Tribal Southwestern Afghanistan - A young couple is shot to death for attempting to elope. Condemned by conservative clerics for "acts of immorality," they are shot by high powered rifles in an area of the country unprotected by Western forces. A crowd watched and cheered.

Meanwhile, in Kansas, a doctor who provides a legal service is shot on a Sunday, in church. Conservative clerics had condemned him and demanded he be "brought to justice." A crowd watched and cheered.

His (alleged) killer is a tax protester, an affiliate of the Montana Freemen, a convicted bomb-maker and, surprise surprise surprise, an active member of Operation Rescue. He once urged OR members, to "attend" the doctor's church en masse on a Sunday morning to confront the preacher and the deacons.

Terrorism has many faces.

An FTC investigation I'd really like to see

2009-05-29T13:11:00.002-04:00

"KFC's claim that its fried offerings have 'that taste you'll just love to eat' is in direct violation of federal regulations," acting FCC chairman Michael Copps said. "The word 'eat' is legally permissible only in reference to substances appropriate for human consumption. Any implication that a consumer could or should 'enjoy' a KFC Crispy Strip fails to meet these standards, and presents an unlawful deception to consumers."

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Sometimes fiction is truer than truth.

Atul Gawande on soaring health care costs

2009-05-28T13:38:00.002-04:00

An interesting piece from Atul Gawande (a doctor who writes articles also) about one un-remarked-upon contributor to high health care costs - doctors who think of themselves like a business and not like health care providers. Noting that some places like McAllen, Texas have really high costs while other places don't. Fascinating read.

iTunes Word Cloud

2009-05-28T09:42:00.005-04:00

Have you seen the very cool word cloud generator at Wordle? You paste in text or a URL and a Java app spits back a word cloud that gives greater prominence to words that occur more frequently. You can also customize fonts, colors, layout, etc.

I'm a bit of a music nut, so I thought this would be an interesting way to view my collection. I exported my iTunes library into Excel, edited the file leaving only the artist data (artist names repeat based on the number of songs by that artist), and then pasted the text (more than 20000 lines) into Worldle. This is the result (showing the top 250 of probably 2600 artists)....

End of discussion

2009-05-27T22:38:00.002-04:00

Glenn Greenwald pretty much puts the nail in the coffin of the argument against Judge Sotomayor based on her "empathy."

Turns out Justice Alito said pretty much the same thing during his confirmation hearing.

Justice Alito, you see, sees his grandparents in every immigration case. His children in every case involving children. His family in every discrimination case (because they were discriminated against because of ethnicity).

Justice Alito. Aggressive liberal activist?

This whole argument is ridiculous. It is folly to think that the people on the bench in the black robes are anything other than people, with all the beliefs, quirks, prejudices and neuroses that go along with membership in the human race.

Search your underpants for signs of a recovery

2009-05-27T19:59:00.002-04:00

No, not the kind of recovery you're thinking of, and not the kind that would explain where the Canes went for the last couple of weeks.

OH SNAP!

(Hey, it's not my headline!)

Sonia Sotomayor - the kind of pedigree that leads to success

2009-05-26T12:47:00.003-04:00

Princeton, then Yale. Second in her class. Hmm... I've heard this pedigree before...

Memorial Day 2009

2009-05-23T23:52:00.002-04:00

Thank you.

Quit

2009-05-23T23:18:00.002-04:00

That's what the Hurricanes just did.

And it cost me $160 to see it.

John 20:29

2009-05-22T19:08:00.002-04:00

Apparently a conservative radio host named Erich "Mancow" Muller decided to have himself waterboarded to prove it's not torture.

Except that after he was finished, he said it definitely was.

Nice to have you on board, eventually.

The three-wolves-howling-at-the-moon shirt

2009-05-22T14:07:00.002-04:00

Read the reviews.

Here's more. Really, you have to read them. There are like 1000 reviews, and most of them are hysterical.

Here's a paragraph from the first one:

I arrived at Wal-mart, mounted my courtesy-scooter (walking is such a drag!) sitting side saddle so that my wolves would show. While I was browsing tube socks, I could hear aroused asthmatic breathing behind me. I turned around to see a slightly sweaty dream in sweatpants and flip-flops standing there. She told me she liked the wolves on my shirt, I told her I wanted to howl at her moon. She offered me a swig from her mountain dew, and I drove my scooter, with her shuffling along side out the door and into the rest of our lives. Thank you wolf shirt.

The "aroused asthmatic breathing" made me spit coffee.

Judge rules Giuliani's suit against Duke not up to par

2009-05-22T13:04:00.005-04:00

After Rudy Giuliani's son was kicked off the Duke golf team, he sued. He lost. The link is to the judgment by Judge Wallace Dixon, which is all kinds of awesome.

"Plaintiff contends that all elements for a breach of contract claim were properly alleged. His analysis, however, slices far from the fairway."
"Plaintiff needs a sand wedge to get out of the hazard."
"Plaintiff attempts to take a mulligan with this argument; however, this shot also lands in the drink."
And my favorite: "Plaintiff's promissory estoppel claim, which was not argued in his brief, brings to mind Carl Spackler's analysis from the movie Caddyshack: He's on his final hole. He's about 455 yards away, he's gonna hit about a 2 iron, I think."

Ed. Note (DFL) - I worked with Magistrate Judge Dixon when I clerked. I know he enjoyed writing this, and probably rubbed his hands in glee when the motion got assigned to him.

Career suicide, and why I will never hire Quinn Emanuel

2009-05-22T11:18:00.003-04:00

Check out the email exchange in the link. Quinn Emanuel represents the Washington Redskins in the trademark litigation brought by Native Americans. They won on appeal. The winning lawyer sent a firm-wide email. So far so normal. Then some first-year replied all saying that maybe the win was nice, but maybe QE should also spare a thought for the Native Americans who think that the word "Redskins" is racist and maybe not be all happy that those people get to keep feeling discriminated against.

Oops.

Reply tornado begins. First-year associate sticks to his guns (boo-yah!). Also sticks to his guns about refusing to use capital letters, which makes him a bit of an annoying twit, but to call out the firm REPEATEDLY in the teeth of the worst recession in a generation, that takes stones. He's going to get fired for this, but more power to him.

And for the part about why I'll never hire QE: After the first reply-all, some partner replied-all to him. The reply contained this gem: "Bob and I represent clients, not causes. We like Native Americans. If Native Americans had hired Bob, the Redskins would have lost the case. But they didn't. They hired someone else. So it was incumbent on Bob to kick their ass in court. It is really that simple." (My underlining)

Yeah, um, I was a litigator once. Actually for 9 years. The number of times that a losing case was won because of the attorney? Can count them on one hand, maybe, if I had a logging accident. Any law firm that thinks it can convert losing files into winners just off the strength of its lawyers alone? They get none of my money.

UPDATE: Turns out the associate did get fired, but for failing the CA Bar twice (http://abovethelaw.com/2009/05/quinn_emanuel_associate_fired.php). So a guy who's idiot enough to commit career suicide by multiple emails and who's such a twit he doesn't use capital letters also can't pass the Bar on multiple tries? Yeah, I'm surprised too.

Again, I bring you the news you need

2009-05-21T20:03:00.004-04:00

Going to the movies? Know you or your spouse or your kids have a small bladder? Want to make sure you don't miss anything?

Runpee.com is for you.

It tells you the breaks in the movie when nothing important will happen, and even gives you the time you've got before something happens and a scrambled description of what happened while you were out. I checked the listing for Star Trek and it's bang-on.

And now if you'll excuse me I have to take a leak before reading Joaquin's comments on this post.

The voice of reason

2009-05-21T05:48:00.005-04:00

Orrin Pilkey lowers the rhetorical boom on the NC Senate on the vote to allow hardened "erosion control" structures on the NC Coast. Dr. Pilkey has been proven correct on this issue over and over and over again. That the Senate chose to ignore his advice and the long history of success of his recommended approach to beach management is ridiculous.

Barrier islands move. That's what they do. Expecting them to stop moving because you built a house, or a fast food restaurant, or a luxury hotel, is hubris. Establishing public policy based on that hubris is gross negligence in the management of a public resource. The beach is not there to shield fancy houses from the waves. It is there because that is the point at which a complicated series of interactions between natural forces ends up putting it. Those forces don't care if your house is in the way.

The future of the North Carolina coast, according to the North Carolina Senate:

versus what 30 years of following Dr. Pilkey's advice has given us:

Now which is preferable to you? And which would you think an enlightened government woiuld prefer to encourage? Oops. Wrong.

Welcome The Stimulist to the blogroll

2009-05-19T16:08:00.005-04:00

My colleague Sean Braswell writes for The Stimulist, a great new multi-author site started by Carlos Watson. Sean is one of those underachievers in life who, other than playing second base for the University of Texas Longhorns, earning a Rhodes Scholarship, obtaining a Doctorate in Social Policy from Oxford and a J.D. from Harvard, has really never accomplished anything in his life. [/sarcasm]

Sean's post today is a good one, and gets right to the nub of why the drivel escaping from the bloated head of FORMER Vice President Cheney sounds so familiar.

Check it out.

Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus

2009-05-19T13:32:00.001-04:00

It's trailers like these that make me wish I went to Cannes in the spring and not the fall. How is there not a bidding war for this movie? It's superior to Snakes on a Plane in every way. Deborah Gibson and Lorenzo Lamas.

The relative sports success of various cities

2009-05-18T17:15:00.002-04:00

The Toronto Star has a ranking of the cities whose sports teams have been the winningest (is that a word?) Seems that I've picked good cities in which to live:

Vancouver - 3rd
Montreal - 6th
Seattle - 17th

Don't see Raleigh anywhere. Must be an oversight.

In light of the upcoming series

2009-05-15T18:26:00.002-04:00

... it's time to resurrect a classic.

Bloody Pengu Throw.

Poor bear

2009-05-15T15:17:00.000-04:00

Boo hoo.

Ho Hum. Another Game Seven

2009-05-14T16:13:00.002-04:00

I have finally used enough Scope to get the taste of Game Six out of my mouth, and I can talk about hockey again. Anton Babchuk has evaded my wrath and looks to be sitting in the press box tonight, replaced by Frank Kaberle. That I think that is a good thing is testament to the disaster that was Anton Babchuk's game on Monday. The fact that, even as badly as he played, he was only marginally worse in the defensive end than Joe Corvo and Joni Pitkanen should tell you all you need to know about the defensive breakdowns that I got to see for two of the three periods of action on Monday.

Sometimes being in Section 110 (Canes shoot once) is painful.

Now, on to Boston. Another series, another Game Seven. These Canes don't do anything easy.

Despite the defensive woes last game, the second and third periods were actually encouraging. Spotting a team like Boston a 2-0 lead is essentially losing the game. But the Canes did score 2 goals and managed to pepper Tim Thomas with over 32 shots. Let's hope they keep that kind of pressure up and Joni Pitkanen remembers to turn toward the puck-handler, rather than away from him. It would also help if they kept the puck in at the point occasionally.

3-2 Canes in double OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOvertime.

GO CANES.