Sunday, May 31, 2009
UCLA has a course in Lactation Education Training
I may take it. It will give me an excuse to look at boobs.
Around the Moronosphere 5/31/09 - In which I make my first cash bleg (and it's not for me)
Moving quickly today it's nice and I want to do something. Went to Alki and had breakfast and coffee but had to leave because they were having some sort of race and I didn't want to get trapped. Anyway...
First off a bleg - I have made a few of these before, but never for cash. I just heard on NPR today that the Shriners are going to have to close up to 6 hospitals due to falling donations. If you aren't aware the Shriners aren't just guys in funny hats and small cars. Since the 1920's they have run a network of pediatric hospitals across the country. It is their reason for being. The care given to the kids is without cost but with the economic downturn they are running a $3,000,000,000 deficit. If the deficit can't be closed this is going to lead to the closing of up to 6 hospitals. I am not a Shriner and am not affiliated in any way with them but a friend of mine in Jr. High was treated for bone cancer at a Shrine Hospital. He ultimately passed away my junior year but they did their best for him so what the hell I am going to donate. Every little bit helps right.
Flopping Aces - Sunday Funnies
Cold Fury - Why are conservatives so mean?
(video here)
Mrs. Peel's Words of Wisdom - The Q Blog - "My main takeaway? Well, you know how people will say stuff like, “Muslims worship the same God Christians and Jews do, just in different ways”? After having read the entire Koran, I am honestly astounded that those people are not consumed by a bolt of lightning from the heavens immediately upon voicing such blasphemy.
There is no way that the same God who inspired the Torah and the New Testament inspired the Koran. No way."
I haven't read the Qur'an or the entire blogging the Qur'an series so I can't make any judgment on Mrs. Peel's comments. I had a friend who is Muslim tell me one time that the Bible and the Koran are basically the same book with the chapters rearranged and a bunch of fire demons thrown in. When I finally get around to reading it I guess I will find out.
The Other McCain - The Unintended Consequences of Advertising - Reviving old Budweiser commercials. I always thought the lizards were rather humorous. Not as humorous as
but humorous
finally a must read from The Economist - California The Ungovernable State - This is from a couple of weeks ago but I just got to it. Very enlightening
and that's all for now
First off a bleg - I have made a few of these before, but never for cash. I just heard on NPR today that the Shriners are going to have to close up to 6 hospitals due to falling donations. If you aren't aware the Shriners aren't just guys in funny hats and small cars. Since the 1920's they have run a network of pediatric hospitals across the country. It is their reason for being. The care given to the kids is without cost but with the economic downturn they are running a $3,000,000,000 deficit. If the deficit can't be closed this is going to lead to the closing of up to 6 hospitals. I am not a Shriner and am not affiliated in any way with them but a friend of mine in Jr. High was treated for bone cancer at a Shrine Hospital. He ultimately passed away my junior year but they did their best for him so what the hell I am going to donate. Every little bit helps right.
Flopping Aces - Sunday Funnies
Cold Fury - Why are conservatives so mean?
(video here)
Mrs. Peel's Words of Wisdom - The Q Blog - "My main takeaway? Well, you know how people will say stuff like, “Muslims worship the same God Christians and Jews do, just in different ways”? After having read the entire Koran, I am honestly astounded that those people are not consumed by a bolt of lightning from the heavens immediately upon voicing such blasphemy.
There is no way that the same God who inspired the Torah and the New Testament inspired the Koran. No way."
I haven't read the Qur'an or the entire blogging the Qur'an series so I can't make any judgment on Mrs. Peel's comments. I had a friend who is Muslim tell me one time that the Bible and the Koran are basically the same book with the chapters rearranged and a bunch of fire demons thrown in. When I finally get around to reading it I guess I will find out.
The Other McCain - The Unintended Consequences of Advertising - Reviving old Budweiser commercials. I always thought the lizards were rather humorous. Not as humorous as
but humorous
finally a must read from The Economist - California The Ungovernable State - This is from a couple of weeks ago but I just got to it. Very enlightening
and that's all for now
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Comments
I have been alerted that there may be a problem with comments. They seem to be working OK for me but if you have a problem e-mail me via the contact me link.
Well...
I may not be getting any Rule Two love from The Other McCain, but I got Julie Banderas to respond to a tweet, which for someone as low on the internet food chain as I am is quite an accomplishment. Next targets Patti Ann Brown and Megyn Kelly. Patti Ann Brown may be a challenge since she doesn't tweet, at least I think she has said she doesn't.
Why Public Education Matters
First off I just want to note that for the third week in a row Kuru Lounge has been dissed in the Full Metal Jacket Reach Around Saturday round up over at The Other McCain. If they aren't careful I am going to take my reader and go elsewhere for my linkwhoring.
Now onto serious business. In the Around the Moronosphere round-up this morning I noted that Pakistan is supposedly starting a crack-down on Madrasas.
This article got me thinking about the role of education in America.
There is the most basic role - Teaching basic life skills that the child will need to survive. A lot of conservatives would argue that this is the role of the parents or the church. It is a responsibility of the parents I agree and on the subsistence level, how to cook a meal or put gas in the car, most are doing ok. As far as teaching reading and math that is a little debatable.
There is the economic component - Most businesses cannot survive without a relatively well educated workforce. Some (many??) would argue that if that is the case then business should assume the responsibility of educating the children. I have made the argument myself that businesses may be better off if they assumed that responsibility. (here and here)
But there ia another component. The one that I would say is arguable the most important.
The social aspect.
I don't mean this in the sense of kids learning to play nicely with each other. I mean it in the sense of learning the common values that allow a country to function. In the US and Western Europe those ideas are mainly encapsulated in the "Great Books" or Liberal Arts tradition (a broad based general education) and until 20 or so years ago almost every student would receive some exposure to the underlying philosophy of our society. It brought people into our society on a leveler playing field.
Removing that social aspect from a students education is a recipe for societal fragmentation.
That is part of what the madarasa experience in Pakistan shows.
By concentrating solely on the Koran to the exclusion of everything else these students are not ready to enter society as productive adults. This makes them ripe for radicalization. The same can happen here.
In some ways, such as ever increasing gang membership, it has. It is just that the radicalization occurs externally to the school but the schools don't provide the underpinnings to counter it.
Now onto serious business. In the Around the Moronosphere round-up this morning I noted that Pakistan is supposedly starting a crack-down on Madrasas.
This article got me thinking about the role of education in America.
There is the most basic role - Teaching basic life skills that the child will need to survive. A lot of conservatives would argue that this is the role of the parents or the church. It is a responsibility of the parents I agree and on the subsistence level, how to cook a meal or put gas in the car, most are doing ok. As far as teaching reading and math that is a little debatable.
There is the economic component - Most businesses cannot survive without a relatively well educated workforce. Some (many??) would argue that if that is the case then business should assume the responsibility of educating the children. I have made the argument myself that businesses may be better off if they assumed that responsibility. (here and here)
But there ia another component. The one that I would say is arguable the most important.
The social aspect.
I don't mean this in the sense of kids learning to play nicely with each other. I mean it in the sense of learning the common values that allow a country to function. In the US and Western Europe those ideas are mainly encapsulated in the "Great Books" or Liberal Arts tradition (a broad based general education) and until 20 or so years ago almost every student would receive some exposure to the underlying philosophy of our society. It brought people into our society on a leveler playing field.
Removing that social aspect from a students education is a recipe for societal fragmentation.
That is part of what the madarasa experience in Pakistan shows.
By concentrating solely on the Koran to the exclusion of everything else these students are not ready to enter society as productive adults. This makes them ripe for radicalization. The same can happen here.
In some ways, such as ever increasing gang membership, it has. It is just that the radicalization occurs externally to the school but the schools don't provide the underpinnings to counter it.
Around the Moronosphere 5/30/09 - In which I solve the Chinese Uighur issue
Doubleplusundead - Obama is psychic - actually regular readers of Kuru Lounge know that he is a god.
Hot Air - Carl Levin: Cheney’s lying about the CIA memos that allegedly prove torture works - Really? So Cheney put his reputation on the line and started turning up on television everywhere to make the case that enhanced interrogation works, even though he secretly knows it doesn’t? And Obama has the smoking-gun memos in his possession and could destroy Cheney at any moment by declassifying them — and yet hasn’t? And Cheney knows that, and yet still he presses on?
He must be some poker player.
Basically the same thing I said yesterday but nice to see someone agrees with me.
Instapundit - REUTERS: Global Markets Weekahead: Return of inflation? - “Surging oil and commodity prices coupled with a falling dollar are prompting some investors to brace for a return of inflation, which would benefit equities and damage most government bonds.”
On the other hand, there’s this: Euro-Zone Inflation Rate Falls to Zero.
Wow I wish we had someone with the foresight to have opened up offshore drilling and expanded oil exploration and production here at home. Oh wait, John McCain wanted to do that.
Important Cleavage Mystery Solved
Stop the ACLU - When Obama’s Lost Ted Rall…. - ….you know things are not all fairy dust and unicorn poots in Liberal World. Seems as if ole Teddy has been smacked with the Cluebat Of Reality, much likeConservative wishy washy right leaning folks who were enthralled by The One have been.
I am just guessing but it seems like Ted doesn't really care for the President much.
The Other McCain - That muffled thumping sound you hear - When Pravda thinks you have gone too commie maybe you need to reexamine your policies.
Alabama in Between - Safe rule of American politics: Two-thirds of “GOP Insiders” are never right.
Caption This - Break Time at Dell Technical Support
Demure Thoughts - Free Book for Kindle with a Tagline That Screamed DOWNLOAD ME! -
"”... a United Nations battle group, clustered around the U.S.S. Hillary Clinton (named after “the most uncompromising wartime president in the history of the United States”), is tasked in the year 2021 with stopping ethnic cleansing by an Islamist regime in Indonesia.”"
Bwaaahaaahaaaa. Coffee out the nose damn it
Support Your Local Gunfighter - Katherine Heigl: Hot, Yet Dumb - "Ya know, if this woman would just shut up and act, she would be riding the roller coaster to super-stardom. Instead, she seems to think that she is the next Meryl Streep, and her arrogant - yet lovely - arse is annoying all the wrong people."
Locusts and Honey - The way commercials should be made
Other Stuff:
Al-Jazeera - Pakistan Retakes Swat Valley City - Pakistan's army has gained control of the main city in the Swat valley after several days of street-to-street battles with Taliban fighters, a military spokesman has said.
Pakistani pundits are saying that there is still a lot of fighting left to be done in the area
BBC - Australia pressed to take Uighurs - US President Barack Obama has asked the Australian government to accept a group of Chinese Muslim detainees currently held at Guantanamo Bay prison camp.
The Uighurs have been cleared for release by US courts.
It is the first time Australia has been approached by the Obama administration over the Uighurs. Two requests by the Bush administration were turned down.
Yeah they have said no twice before but this time it's Obama asking and he is the one true hope of humanity. This is just a suggestion but maybe if they changed their name from Uighurs (wiggers)they would have more luck. I have the feeling that everyone thinks if they take these guys they are going to be getting a bunch of Seth Green's from can't hardly wait.
I suggest something like super cool awesome dudes
DAWN - New front about to open against Pakistani Taliban? - PESHAWAR: Security forces Saturday warned residents of the northwestern town of Charbagh to leave the area ahead of a possible attack on militants there, officials said.
The warning was made in leaflets dropped by helicopters on the town, 20 kilometres north of Swat, the area where the army launched a full-scale operation against militants on May 8.
...
Another security official confirmed that leaflets had been dropped in Charbagh ahead of a possible ground and air offensive.
‘There are intelligence reports about the presence of a number of important Taliban commanders in the area,’ he said.
However, he did not give further details, citing security concerns.
LA Times - Pakistan religious schools get scrutiny - Under heavy pressure from the U.S., President Asif Ali Zardari pledged recently to reform the madrasa system, in a campaign against militancy that has included a Pakistani army offensive in the Swat Valley.
...
Shah isn't worried; he's heard it before. He rattles off a string of past national leaders, including Gen. Pervez Musharraf, assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
"They all said they would change us," he said, wearing a gold watch and juggling two cellphones. "We are too strong, and it will never happen. This is just talk for the Americans."
Experts tend to agree. The madrasa curriculum and routine -- studying the Koran and other religious texts to the exclusion of much else, with a strong focus on rote memorization and strict obedience -- has resisted change for centuries.
Washington Post - CIA Announces Push to Improve Agency's Language Proficiency - Five years after it was faulted by the 9/11 Commission for inadequate language skills among its employees, the CIA yesterday launched an ambitious program to double the number of analysts proficient in languages deemed critical in the fight against America's enemies.
...
Panetta unveiled plans for recruiting more officers fluent in foreign languages and for retraining thousands of current employees, using the agency's in-house "CIA University." The agency will offer night classes and online training, and will enable new recruits to study languages while awaiting security clearance, he said.
Good. They might also want to offer to pay high school and college students to study languages. maybe defraying tuition and textbook costs or something.
Hot Air - Carl Levin: Cheney’s lying about the CIA memos that allegedly prove torture works - Really? So Cheney put his reputation on the line and started turning up on television everywhere to make the case that enhanced interrogation works, even though he secretly knows it doesn’t? And Obama has the smoking-gun memos in his possession and could destroy Cheney at any moment by declassifying them — and yet hasn’t? And Cheney knows that, and yet still he presses on?
He must be some poker player.
Basically the same thing I said yesterday but nice to see someone agrees with me.
Instapundit - REUTERS: Global Markets Weekahead: Return of inflation? - “Surging oil and commodity prices coupled with a falling dollar are prompting some investors to brace for a return of inflation, which would benefit equities and damage most government bonds.”
On the other hand, there’s this: Euro-Zone Inflation Rate Falls to Zero.
Wow I wish we had someone with the foresight to have opened up offshore drilling and expanded oil exploration and production here at home. Oh wait, John McCain wanted to do that.
Important Cleavage Mystery Solved
Stop the ACLU - When Obama’s Lost Ted Rall…. - ….you know things are not all fairy dust and unicorn poots in Liberal World. Seems as if ole Teddy has been smacked with the Cluebat Of Reality, much like
Rall's quote - Obama is useless. Worse than that, he’s dangerous. Which is why, if he has any patriotism left after the thousands of meetings he has sat through with corporate contributors, blood-sucking lobbyists and corrupt politicians, he ought to step down now — before he drags us further into the abyss. (snip)
Obama is cute. He is charming. But there is something rotten inside him. Unlike the Republicans who backed George W. Bush, I won’t follow a terrible leader just because I voted for him. Obama has revealed himself. He is a monster, and he should remove himself from power.
I am just guessing but it seems like Ted doesn't really care for the President much.
The Other McCain - That muffled thumping sound you hear - When Pravda thinks you have gone too commie maybe you need to reexamine your policies.
Alabama in Between - Safe rule of American politics: Two-thirds of “GOP Insiders” are never right.
Caption This - Break Time at Dell Technical Support
Demure Thoughts - Free Book for Kindle with a Tagline That Screamed DOWNLOAD ME! -
"”... a United Nations battle group, clustered around the U.S.S. Hillary Clinton (named after “the most uncompromising wartime president in the history of the United States”), is tasked in the year 2021 with stopping ethnic cleansing by an Islamist regime in Indonesia.”"
Bwaaahaaahaaaa. Coffee out the nose damn it
Support Your Local Gunfighter - Katherine Heigl: Hot, Yet Dumb - "Ya know, if this woman would just shut up and act, she would be riding the roller coaster to super-stardom. Instead, she seems to think that she is the next Meryl Streep, and her arrogant - yet lovely - arse is annoying all the wrong people."
Locusts and Honey - The way commercials should be made
Other Stuff:
Al-Jazeera - Pakistan Retakes Swat Valley City - Pakistan's army has gained control of the main city in the Swat valley after several days of street-to-street battles with Taliban fighters, a military spokesman has said.
Pakistani pundits are saying that there is still a lot of fighting left to be done in the area
BBC - Australia pressed to take Uighurs - US President Barack Obama has asked the Australian government to accept a group of Chinese Muslim detainees currently held at Guantanamo Bay prison camp.
The Uighurs have been cleared for release by US courts.
It is the first time Australia has been approached by the Obama administration over the Uighurs. Two requests by the Bush administration were turned down.
Yeah they have said no twice before but this time it's Obama asking and he is the one true hope of humanity. This is just a suggestion but maybe if they changed their name from Uighurs (wiggers)they would have more luck. I have the feeling that everyone thinks if they take these guys they are going to be getting a bunch of Seth Green's from can't hardly wait.
I suggest something like super cool awesome dudes
DAWN - New front about to open against Pakistani Taliban? - PESHAWAR: Security forces Saturday warned residents of the northwestern town of Charbagh to leave the area ahead of a possible attack on militants there, officials said.
The warning was made in leaflets dropped by helicopters on the town, 20 kilometres north of Swat, the area where the army launched a full-scale operation against militants on May 8.
...
Another security official confirmed that leaflets had been dropped in Charbagh ahead of a possible ground and air offensive.
‘There are intelligence reports about the presence of a number of important Taliban commanders in the area,’ he said.
However, he did not give further details, citing security concerns.
LA Times - Pakistan religious schools get scrutiny - Under heavy pressure from the U.S., President Asif Ali Zardari pledged recently to reform the madrasa system, in a campaign against militancy that has included a Pakistani army offensive in the Swat Valley.
...
Shah isn't worried; he's heard it before. He rattles off a string of past national leaders, including Gen. Pervez Musharraf, assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
"They all said they would change us," he said, wearing a gold watch and juggling two cellphones. "We are too strong, and it will never happen. This is just talk for the Americans."
Experts tend to agree. The madrasa curriculum and routine -- studying the Koran and other religious texts to the exclusion of much else, with a strong focus on rote memorization and strict obedience -- has resisted change for centuries.
Washington Post - CIA Announces Push to Improve Agency's Language Proficiency - Five years after it was faulted by the 9/11 Commission for inadequate language skills among its employees, the CIA yesterday launched an ambitious program to double the number of analysts proficient in languages deemed critical in the fight against America's enemies.
...
Panetta unveiled plans for recruiting more officers fluent in foreign languages and for retraining thousands of current employees, using the agency's in-house "CIA University." The agency will offer night classes and online training, and will enable new recruits to study languages while awaiting security clearance, he said.
Good. They might also want to offer to pay high school and college students to study languages. maybe defraying tuition and textbook costs or something.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Around the Moronosphere part II 5/29/09
I got cut off early this morning because I had to go to the dentist and having missed yesterday there was a ton of stuff to go thru. Anyway lets play a little catch-up:
BBC - Analysis: Can Obama deliver on the Middle East? The BBC seems to think so. I am doubtful.
Oil prices continue rally to $66 - "Oil prices hit a six-month high, buoyed by falling US stockpiles, amid signs the US economy is not shrinking as fast as people thought.
...
Also on Thursday, Opec oil ministers decided to keep output unchanged, amid optimism that prices are set to rise. The Saudi oil minister predicted prices will reach $75 this year."
Boy am I glad that Obama and the Dems decided to increase funding for increased exploration, Coal to Liquid and Oil-Shale development, as well as nuclear power. Oh wait they killed all that.
If gas hits $3.50 to $4.00 a gallon again the economy is well and truly screwed. I know I am the only one saying this but I am convinced that it was the spike in oil prices that caused the housing market to collapse and we are on our way again. If anyone knows where I can get the data on foreclosure rates between 2001 and 2009 as well as mortgage interest rates for the same period I would appreciate it. If you would let me know. I suspect that if you lay those 3 items together in a graph then they will track very closely.
CNN- Levin: Memos don't show what Cheney says they do - "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says former Vice President Dick Cheney's claims -- that classified CIA memos show enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding worked -- are wrong.
...
"I hope that the documents are declassified, so that people can judge for themselves what is fact, and what is fiction," he added."
Interesting. Two people claiming that the same memos state absolutely opposite facts. Since the administration won't release them and since Levin's claim backs the administration which is blocking release I am going to go out on a limb and call him a liar.
DAWN - 39 suspected Taliban hiding among IDPs arrested - ISLAMABAD: Police have arrested 39 suspected Taliban fighters hiding among refugees from a military offensive against militants from the Swat Valley region, a senior officer said Friday.
The arrests, made in the past few days, were the first of alleged militants among more than two million people who have fled the fighting, according to AP and DawnNews.
This is going to be a big problem later on. Hopefully the Pakistani forces are working on a plan to screen internally displaced persons as the fighting in SWAT winds down
France 24 - Chavez hosts four-day chat show marathon - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on Thursday began a marathon four-day edition of his trademark television show to mark 10 years of his show Alo Presidente.
I hear President Obama likes this idea but since he already gives a press conference every 10 minutes they aren't sure where he will find the time. Scientists at CERN are working on opening a new space time continuum to resolve the issue.
NY Times - a link for living on food stamps
Obama Outlines Coordinated Cyber-Security Plan - WASHINGTON — President Obama declared Friday that the country’s disparate efforts to “deter, prevent, detect and defend” against cyberattacks would now be run out of the White House, but he also promised that he would bar the federal government from regular monitoring of “private sector networks” and the Internet traffic that has become the backbone of American communications.
My first inclination on this is good, but I am withholding final judgement until I see some details.
BBC - Analysis: Can Obama deliver on the Middle East? The BBC seems to think so. I am doubtful.
Oil prices continue rally to $66 - "Oil prices hit a six-month high, buoyed by falling US stockpiles, amid signs the US economy is not shrinking as fast as people thought.
...
Also on Thursday, Opec oil ministers decided to keep output unchanged, amid optimism that prices are set to rise. The Saudi oil minister predicted prices will reach $75 this year."
Boy am I glad that Obama and the Dems decided to increase funding for increased exploration, Coal to Liquid and Oil-Shale development, as well as nuclear power. Oh wait they killed all that.
If gas hits $3.50 to $4.00 a gallon again the economy is well and truly screwed. I know I am the only one saying this but I am convinced that it was the spike in oil prices that caused the housing market to collapse and we are on our way again. If anyone knows where I can get the data on foreclosure rates between 2001 and 2009 as well as mortgage interest rates for the same period I would appreciate it. If you would let me know. I suspect that if you lay those 3 items together in a graph then they will track very closely.
CNN- Levin: Memos don't show what Cheney says they do - "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says former Vice President Dick Cheney's claims -- that classified CIA memos show enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding worked -- are wrong.
...
"I hope that the documents are declassified, so that people can judge for themselves what is fact, and what is fiction," he added."
Interesting. Two people claiming that the same memos state absolutely opposite facts. Since the administration won't release them and since Levin's claim backs the administration which is blocking release I am going to go out on a limb and call him a liar.
DAWN - 39 suspected Taliban hiding among IDPs arrested - ISLAMABAD: Police have arrested 39 suspected Taliban fighters hiding among refugees from a military offensive against militants from the Swat Valley region, a senior officer said Friday.
The arrests, made in the past few days, were the first of alleged militants among more than two million people who have fled the fighting, according to AP and DawnNews.
This is going to be a big problem later on. Hopefully the Pakistani forces are working on a plan to screen internally displaced persons as the fighting in SWAT winds down
France 24 - Chavez hosts four-day chat show marathon - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on Thursday began a marathon four-day edition of his trademark television show to mark 10 years of his show Alo Presidente.
I hear President Obama likes this idea but since he already gives a press conference every 10 minutes they aren't sure where he will find the time. Scientists at CERN are working on opening a new space time continuum to resolve the issue.
NY Times - a link for living on food stamps
Obama Outlines Coordinated Cyber-Security Plan - WASHINGTON — President Obama declared Friday that the country’s disparate efforts to “deter, prevent, detect and defend” against cyberattacks would now be run out of the White House, but he also promised that he would bar the federal government from regular monitoring of “private sector networks” and the Internet traffic that has become the backbone of American communications.
My first inclination on this is good, but I am withholding final judgement until I see some details.
Around the Moronosphere 5/29/09
Ace - Craig T. Nelson (Yeah the actor), Revolutionary - Who would have guessed?
Patterico - Bill O'Reilly: Hypocrite - The other day Bill O'Reilly went after Michelle Malkin and Hot Air for "racist blog posting". In actuality it was a comment in which a visitor to the site referred to President Obama as Hussein. When called on it O'Reilly was called on his misrepresentation he responded by saying "Miss Malkin is upset because I didn’t identify the “Hussein” comment was made by a civilian — not her or her staff. And that’s true. I should have been more precise. But we often cite hateful civilian comments on blogs and say they should be edited, as we do on billoreilly.com.". At that point Patterico decided it was time to call O'Reilly on his unmitigated bullshit so he joined billoreilly.com and looked up the commenting policy - "BillOReilly.com does not control or pre-screen the files, information, or messages (referred to collectively as “Information”) delivered to or displayed in the Message Boards, unless otherwise noted therein, and BillOReilly.com assumes no duty to, and does not monitor or endorse Information within the Message Boards." Patterico has now started posting offensive, unpoliced, postings found on BillOReilly.com. the first two are here and here. I hope Patterico jams it up O'Reilly's blowhard ass and breaks it off.
Hot Air - follows up on the O'Reilly issue - a commenter observes it's like they are following Rule 4 of Stacy McCain's How to get a million blog hits strategy
Slashdot - An argument for leaving DNS control in US hands - The actual article is slightly technical but worth reading and makes a good case for why the US should maintain control of the domain name infrastructure. I don't really encourage people to write their congressmen often but this is something worth writing about.
The Art of Manliness - Become a Renaissance Man Without Spending a Dime - In a battle of wits I am basically unarmed so I bookmarked this one
Wizbang - American Education System Needs a Monopoly-Buster - I basically stopped reading Wizbang because Paul was such a douchebag, but they are still on my feed reader and every once in a while a title catches my eye.
Alabama in Between - Coulter pwns Carville re: Soto - Not often that someone can shut James Carville up.
The Other McCain - What DealerGate Says About the Conservative 'Message' Problem - And this is also why I don't want to hear any lectures from Michael Goldfarb about a deficit of "online partisan reporting." If there is such a deficit, it's because (a) almost nobody in the GOP knows anything about the news business; and (b) conservative donors are either unwilling to pay for reporting or don't know who to hire to get the job done.
I agree. I am not a professional journalist or political operative and I know that I could do a better job directing messaging operations for the GOP than the idiots they have.
Patterico - Bill O'Reilly: Hypocrite - The other day Bill O'Reilly went after Michelle Malkin and Hot Air for "racist blog posting". In actuality it was a comment in which a visitor to the site referred to President Obama as Hussein. When called on it O'Reilly was called on his misrepresentation he responded by saying "Miss Malkin is upset because I didn’t identify the “Hussein” comment was made by a civilian — not her or her staff. And that’s true. I should have been more precise. But we often cite hateful civilian comments on blogs and say they should be edited, as we do on billoreilly.com.". At that point Patterico decided it was time to call O'Reilly on his unmitigated bullshit so he joined billoreilly.com and looked up the commenting policy - "BillOReilly.com does not control or pre-screen the files, information, or messages (referred to collectively as “Information”) delivered to or displayed in the Message Boards, unless otherwise noted therein, and BillOReilly.com assumes no duty to, and does not monitor or endorse Information within the Message Boards." Patterico has now started posting offensive, unpoliced, postings found on BillOReilly.com. the first two are here and here. I hope Patterico jams it up O'Reilly's blowhard ass and breaks it off.
Hot Air - follows up on the O'Reilly issue - a commenter observes it's like they are following Rule 4 of Stacy McCain's How to get a million blog hits strategy
Slashdot - An argument for leaving DNS control in US hands - The actual article is slightly technical but worth reading and makes a good case for why the US should maintain control of the domain name infrastructure. I don't really encourage people to write their congressmen often but this is something worth writing about.
The Art of Manliness - Become a Renaissance Man Without Spending a Dime - In a battle of wits I am basically unarmed so I bookmarked this one
Wizbang - American Education System Needs a Monopoly-Buster - I basically stopped reading Wizbang because Paul was such a douchebag, but they are still on my feed reader and every once in a while a title catches my eye.
Alabama in Between - Coulter pwns Carville re: Soto - Not often that someone can shut James Carville up.
The Other McCain - What DealerGate Says About the Conservative 'Message' Problem - And this is also why I don't want to hear any lectures from Michael Goldfarb about a deficit of "online partisan reporting." If there is such a deficit, it's because (a) almost nobody in the GOP knows anything about the news business; and (b) conservative donors are either unwilling to pay for reporting or don't know who to hire to get the job done.
I agree. I am not a professional journalist or political operative and I know that I could do a better job directing messaging operations for the GOP than the idiots they have.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Hitler Goes Kaput
Seems like a Russian rip-off of Top Secret
but what the hell if Netflix has it I am renting it. Especially since it has Ania Semenovich in it
I know nothing new for today is up so far
Network issues again, and I was busy this morning so I just had time to get back around to it.
On the plus side I may have an opportunity as a contractor at Microsoft.
On the plus side I may have an opportunity as a contractor at Microsoft.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
I guess we know what he was praying for - Catholic School Teacher Arrested For Having Sex With Student
After Taking Him To Disneyland
and his mom knew and approved of the relationship because she thought the teacher was a good influence.
God must really like this kid.
Maria Guzman Hernandez, 32, was a sixth-grade teacher at Our Lady of Charity in Hialeah. She was charged with sexual battery on a teenager just hours after she and the boy returned from a trip to Disney World over the weekend.
…
Hernandez is estranged from her husband and has two children of her own who attend the religious school. Police say they were surprised to learn that the boy’s mother knew of his sexual relationship with the teacher and approved of it.
source
Funniest Thing I Have Heard All Day - Arlen Specter Gets A Dem Challenger in PA Senate Race
via Ace
The only thing funnier would be if the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee refuses to kick up any funds.
HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!
The only thing funnier would be if the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee refuses to kick up any funds.
HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!
Around the Moronosphere in 60 Minutes 5/27/09
Ace - North Korea Says It No Longer Considers Itself Bound By Terms Of Armistice - Like it ever has
Betsy - The Politics of the Sotomayor Nomination - "So my advice to the Republicans: play it straight. Don't demagogue her. Question her on her controversial opinions and make sure that they get a full airing. Then vote your consciences. Some Republicans will vote for her because they sincerely believe that senators shouldn't reject a competent nominee whether President Bush or President Obama makes the nomination. Others will find her opinions on such issues to be enough to vote her down. Ignore all the interest groups who have a vested interest in making this as heated as possible. After all, who would donate to them if they didn't raise a major fuss. But I didn't like it when they did that for Bush's nominees and I don't like it now. We can at least be consistent in how we behave. And look to this as an opportunity to have a full debate about judicial philosophy. When expressed well, the conservatives have a winning hand to play. I've seen it time and time again in my own classes. When kids are presented with the descriptions of originalism and the living Constitution arguments, they are evenly divided. Then I show them a telecast of a discussion between Justices Scalia and Breyer on judicial philosophy and quite a few kids change their mind after they hear the arguments put forth by the two justices. This is a debate worth having and a nomination hearing is a good place to have it."
I agree. Barring a major screw-up on Sotomayor's part this is a done deal but the opportunity is there to make this nomination useful to us.
Flopping Aces - A Memorial Day Tradition Comes to an End - "in 2004, a new tradition began to “honor” Memorial Day and the recently fallen: 'Cartoonist Garry B. Trudeau on Memorial Day will devote his comic strip “Doonesbury” to listing U.S. military personnel who have been killed during the war in Iraq. Comic strip historians say it is the first time such a eulogy has been presented in the comics, and it echoes the war dead roll call Ted Koppel delivered April 30 on ABC’s “Nightline.' (...) Apparently in 2009, both traditions have been scrapped. (...) Opposition to the war was not about principle and patriotism. It was about partisanship. Even before 9/11, Trudeau had it in for Dubbya (they knew each other back in Yale). A little honesty, please?"
Honesty is asking a bit much
Hot Air - Hmmm: Chrysler dealers shut down in Obama bankruptcy are mostly Republican? - "I’m skeptical that this is as bad as it looks — it’d be politically suicidal, for no benefit greater than petty revenge"
I don't often agree with Allahpundit but I do here. As I said yesterday this just seems too raw but this is what the numbers are showing so far. I believe that ther are people going over them in greater detail now. Oh and it isn't just GOP donors. Hillary donors have been hit too.
Bring the Heat Bring the Stupid - Bradley Fighting Vehicle gunnery circa 2002
Caption This - Legion of Gay Superheroes - I laughed my ass off at #4
D=S - The laser-sighted XM-25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System and the Lightweight .50-Caliber Machine Gun. - a magazine fed 25 mmm grenade launcher and a .50 cal machine gun that weighs in at half the weight of the M2 with less than half the recoil. pics at the original post
and a post by Newt Gingrich - Coming This Summer: Health Care Wars - laysout at an alternative to Obamacare(I haven't read the proposal yet. If it sucks let me know)
Becky - Sotomayor Will Eviscerate Second Amendment - I don't think Becky actually puts forth much of an argument here. Yes Sotomayor would like to overturn Heller and prevent incorporation of the 2nd Amendment but Becky hasn't shown she is capable. Her record on this subject is another arrow in the quiver against her however.
Other Stuff:
Al-Jazeera - Dozens feared dead in Lahore blast -
As many as 30 people are thought to have been killed in a bomb attack on a police station in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore.
Police said that more than 200 people were hurt in the attack on Wednesday, which destroyed the police station and damaged offices belonging to Pakistan's spay agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI).
sounds like the typical al-Qaida style suicide attack
BBC - Cuba announces new austerity plan - Cuba has announced it will introduce an austerity programme in June to try to offset the impact of the international financial crisis and reduce energy use.
I am not sure just who much more austere they can get
CNN - GM moves closer to bankruptcy - NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors said Wednesday it has fallen far short of the bondholder support it needed for its proposed debt-for-stock offer, virtually guaranteeing that the nation's largest automaker will be forced to file for bankruptcy court protection within the next five days.
DAWN - Mingora to be cleared of Taliban within three days - PESHAWAR: Pakistan vowed Wednesday to wipe out the Taliban from Swat’s main town of Mingora within three days, as fierce fighting raged during a month-long offensive to crush the insurgents.
Yahoo Politics - Democrats Up Three on Generic Congressional Ballot - Support for Democrats is up one point from last week, while support for the GOP has dropped a point. The latest results mark the lowest level of support for the GOP since April 12, while they mark the highest level of support for the Democrats since the end of March.
Yahoo News - Survey: Most economists see recession end in '09 - WASHINGTON – More than 90 percent of economists predict the recession will end this year, although the recovery is likely to be bumpy.
Washington Post - Obama Integrates Security Councils, Adds New Offices - President Obama announced yesterday that he will merge the staffs of the Homeland Security Council and the National Security Council to speed up and unify security policymaking inside the White House. (...)
The White House also will add new offices for cybersecurity, for terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction, and for "resilience" -- a national security directorate aimed at preparedness and response for a domestic WMD attack, pandemic or natural catastrophe, officials said.
Seattle-PI - Joel Connelly "Political extremists start smearing a would-be Supreme" - Apparently opposing a candidacy and pointing out a candidates record on issues now constitutes smearing. Where was this outrage against smears when they were being used against George Bush?
Betsy - The Politics of the Sotomayor Nomination - "So my advice to the Republicans: play it straight. Don't demagogue her. Question her on her controversial opinions and make sure that they get a full airing. Then vote your consciences. Some Republicans will vote for her because they sincerely believe that senators shouldn't reject a competent nominee whether President Bush or President Obama makes the nomination. Others will find her opinions on such issues to be enough to vote her down. Ignore all the interest groups who have a vested interest in making this as heated as possible. After all, who would donate to them if they didn't raise a major fuss. But I didn't like it when they did that for Bush's nominees and I don't like it now. We can at least be consistent in how we behave. And look to this as an opportunity to have a full debate about judicial philosophy. When expressed well, the conservatives have a winning hand to play. I've seen it time and time again in my own classes. When kids are presented with the descriptions of originalism and the living Constitution arguments, they are evenly divided. Then I show them a telecast of a discussion between Justices Scalia and Breyer on judicial philosophy and quite a few kids change their mind after they hear the arguments put forth by the two justices. This is a debate worth having and a nomination hearing is a good place to have it."
I agree. Barring a major screw-up on Sotomayor's part this is a done deal but the opportunity is there to make this nomination useful to us.
Flopping Aces - A Memorial Day Tradition Comes to an End - "in 2004, a new tradition began to “honor” Memorial Day and the recently fallen: 'Cartoonist Garry B. Trudeau on Memorial Day will devote his comic strip “Doonesbury” to listing U.S. military personnel who have been killed during the war in Iraq. Comic strip historians say it is the first time such a eulogy has been presented in the comics, and it echoes the war dead roll call Ted Koppel delivered April 30 on ABC’s “Nightline.' (...) Apparently in 2009, both traditions have been scrapped. (...) Opposition to the war was not about principle and patriotism. It was about partisanship. Even before 9/11, Trudeau had it in for Dubbya (they knew each other back in Yale). A little honesty, please?"
Honesty is asking a bit much
Hot Air - Hmmm: Chrysler dealers shut down in Obama bankruptcy are mostly Republican? - "I’m skeptical that this is as bad as it looks — it’d be politically suicidal, for no benefit greater than petty revenge"
I don't often agree with Allahpundit but I do here. As I said yesterday this just seems too raw but this is what the numbers are showing so far. I believe that ther are people going over them in greater detail now. Oh and it isn't just GOP donors. Hillary donors have been hit too.
Bring the Heat Bring the Stupid - Bradley Fighting Vehicle gunnery circa 2002
Caption This - Legion of Gay Superheroes - I laughed my ass off at #4
D=S - The laser-sighted XM-25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System and the Lightweight .50-Caliber Machine Gun. - a magazine fed 25 mmm grenade launcher and a .50 cal machine gun that weighs in at half the weight of the M2 with less than half the recoil. pics at the original post
and a post by Newt Gingrich - Coming This Summer: Health Care Wars - laysout at an alternative to Obamacare(I haven't read the proposal yet. If it sucks let me know)
Becky - Sotomayor Will Eviscerate Second Amendment - I don't think Becky actually puts forth much of an argument here. Yes Sotomayor would like to overturn Heller and prevent incorporation of the 2nd Amendment but Becky hasn't shown she is capable. Her record on this subject is another arrow in the quiver against her however.
Other Stuff:
Al-Jazeera - Dozens feared dead in Lahore blast -
As many as 30 people are thought to have been killed in a bomb attack on a police station in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore.
Police said that more than 200 people were hurt in the attack on Wednesday, which destroyed the police station and damaged offices belonging to Pakistan's spay agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI).
sounds like the typical al-Qaida style suicide attack
BBC - Cuba announces new austerity plan - Cuba has announced it will introduce an austerity programme in June to try to offset the impact of the international financial crisis and reduce energy use.
I am not sure just who much more austere they can get
CNN - GM moves closer to bankruptcy - NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors said Wednesday it has fallen far short of the bondholder support it needed for its proposed debt-for-stock offer, virtually guaranteeing that the nation's largest automaker will be forced to file for bankruptcy court protection within the next five days.
DAWN - Mingora to be cleared of Taliban within three days - PESHAWAR: Pakistan vowed Wednesday to wipe out the Taliban from Swat’s main town of Mingora within three days, as fierce fighting raged during a month-long offensive to crush the insurgents.
Yahoo Politics - Democrats Up Three on Generic Congressional Ballot - Support for Democrats is up one point from last week, while support for the GOP has dropped a point. The latest results mark the lowest level of support for the GOP since April 12, while they mark the highest level of support for the Democrats since the end of March.
Yahoo News - Survey: Most economists see recession end in '09 - WASHINGTON – More than 90 percent of economists predict the recession will end this year, although the recovery is likely to be bumpy.
Washington Post - Obama Integrates Security Councils, Adds New Offices - President Obama announced yesterday that he will merge the staffs of the Homeland Security Council and the National Security Council to speed up and unify security policymaking inside the White House. (...)
The White House also will add new offices for cybersecurity, for terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction, and for "resilience" -- a national security directorate aimed at preparedness and response for a domestic WMD attack, pandemic or natural catastrophe, officials said.
Seattle-PI - Joel Connelly "Political extremists start smearing a would-be Supreme" - Apparently opposing a candidacy and pointing out a candidates record on issues now constitutes smearing. Where was this outrage against smears when they were being used against George Bush?
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
The Sotomayor Edition - Around the Moronosphere in 60 Minutes 5/26/09
Ace - How Hard Should Republicans And Conservatives Fight Sotomayor? - "But what the Republicans and conservatives must do is use this opportunity to layout what they believe in when it comes to the proper role of judges in our system. They should put Senators from nominally ‘red states’ like Ben Nelson, Byron Dorgan and Blanche Lincoln into the uncomfortable position of defending and pushing this very liberal activist judge over the top."
I agree as I said in my post earlier this morning
Doubleplusundead -alexthechicks Initial thoughts + legal geekery on Sotomayor - "So yes, yes, I am concerned. And yes, I do believe it is fair to oppose her nomination if Judge Sotomayor believes that decisions are to be policy based rather than based on the interpretation of the law. Judicial philosophy is a fair, indeed I would say primary, reason to oppose a nominee."
Who knew alexthechick could blog about anything but shoes? Just Kidding :-)
Flopping Aces - Obama Plays Race, Sex and Ideology Cards with Supreme Court Pick - Being fair at the very least the ideology card always comes into play when a Supreme Court pick is made
Hot Air - Obama losing on Gitmo - "No wonder Dick Cheney’s popularity is rebounding. While Barack Obama continues to insist that the detention center at Guantanamo Bay makes the US less safe, the majority of American voters disagree with that statement. Almost a majority favors keeping it open, according to Rasmussen’s latest polling on the subject, and by more than a 2-1 difference oppose moving any of its detainees to the United States, as suggested by the administration"
Instapundit - ILYA SOMIN ON THE SOTOMAYOR PICK - "I am also not favorably impressed with her notorious statement that ‘a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.’ Not only is it objectionable in and of itself, it also suggests that Sotomayor is a committed believer in the identity politics school of left-wing thought. Worse, it implies that she believes that it is legitimate for judges to base decisions in part based on their ethnic or racial origins."
I just have to wonder how many other little gems like this statement Judge Sotomayor has left scattered about over the years. This could be a bruising fight
Powerline - Lawyers assessments of Judge Sotomayor
I liked the Che Guevara In Robes line but couldn't figure out how to work it in :-P
Slashdot - The Washington Post reports that President Obama is set to appoint a 'Cybersecurity czar with a broad mandate':
Conservative blogs to be declared a cybersecurity threat?
Nice Deb - Payback Time: Review Finds Closing Chrysler Dealerships Were Republican Donors - "of those who contributed to political campaigns, every single one had donated almost exclusively to GOP candidates. While this isn’t an exhaustive review, it does have some ominous implications if it can be verified."
This seems a bit raw even for a Chicago politician. More from Doug Ross @ journal
RightWing Sparkle - The case against Sotomayor
The Other McCain - What's Wrong With the North Bronx - "So I woke up and heard Judge Sotomayor giving her speech accepting the Supreme Court nomination. And she was like "South Bronx" this and "South Bronx" that, and after a while, I start saying to myself, dang, y'all, girl representin' here.
I'm pretty sure she threw some gang signs and name-checked Biggie and Tupac . . ."
You're probably going to hell, or at least preventive detention for that one
Breaking as I work on this - CA Prop 8 upheld but 18,000 gay marriages still valid
BBC - Vatican Radio to air advertising - Vatican Radio - the voice of the Roman Catholic church - is going commercial in July to meet rising costs.
first in line Planned Parenthood
Update from Powerline - The talking points on Sotomayor - The talking point portraying Sotomayor as a "moderate" is probably the most interesting of the batch. This is not the view of lawyers who practice before her, as reflected in the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary. As for the claim that she agrees with Republican-appointed colleagues in 95 percent of cases, this statistic will need to be examined against those of other judges. Unlike with the Supreme Court, litigants have an automatic right to appeal to federal courts of appeals such as the one Sotomayor sits on. Thus, unlike the Supreme Court, federal courts of appeal receive a large volume of cases as to which there is no serious controversy
I agree as I said in my post earlier this morning
Doubleplusundead -alexthechicks Initial thoughts + legal geekery on Sotomayor - "So yes, yes, I am concerned. And yes, I do believe it is fair to oppose her nomination if Judge Sotomayor believes that decisions are to be policy based rather than based on the interpretation of the law. Judicial philosophy is a fair, indeed I would say primary, reason to oppose a nominee."
Who knew alexthechick could blog about anything but shoes? Just Kidding :-)
Flopping Aces - Obama Plays Race, Sex and Ideology Cards with Supreme Court Pick - Being fair at the very least the ideology card always comes into play when a Supreme Court pick is made
Hot Air - Obama losing on Gitmo - "No wonder Dick Cheney’s popularity is rebounding. While Barack Obama continues to insist that the detention center at Guantanamo Bay makes the US less safe, the majority of American voters disagree with that statement. Almost a majority favors keeping it open, according to Rasmussen’s latest polling on the subject, and by more than a 2-1 difference oppose moving any of its detainees to the United States, as suggested by the administration"
Instapundit - ILYA SOMIN ON THE SOTOMAYOR PICK - "I am also not favorably impressed with her notorious statement that ‘a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.’ Not only is it objectionable in and of itself, it also suggests that Sotomayor is a committed believer in the identity politics school of left-wing thought. Worse, it implies that she believes that it is legitimate for judges to base decisions in part based on their ethnic or racial origins."
I just have to wonder how many other little gems like this statement Judge Sotomayor has left scattered about over the years. This could be a bruising fight
Powerline - Lawyers assessments of Judge Sotomayor
I liked the Che Guevara In Robes line but couldn't figure out how to work it in :-P
Slashdot - The Washington Post reports that President Obama is set to appoint a 'Cybersecurity czar with a broad mandate':
Conservative blogs to be declared a cybersecurity threat?
Nice Deb - Payback Time: Review Finds Closing Chrysler Dealerships Were Republican Donors - "of those who contributed to political campaigns, every single one had donated almost exclusively to GOP candidates. While this isn’t an exhaustive review, it does have some ominous implications if it can be verified."
This seems a bit raw even for a Chicago politician. More from Doug Ross @ journal
RightWing Sparkle - The case against Sotomayor
The Other McCain - What's Wrong With the North Bronx - "So I woke up and heard Judge Sotomayor giving her speech accepting the Supreme Court nomination. And she was like "South Bronx" this and "South Bronx" that, and after a while, I start saying to myself, dang, y'all, girl representin' here.
I'm pretty sure she threw some gang signs and name-checked Biggie and Tupac . . ."
You're probably going to hell, or at least preventive detention for that one
Breaking as I work on this - CA Prop 8 upheld but 18,000 gay marriages still valid
BBC - Vatican Radio to air advertising - Vatican Radio - the voice of the Roman Catholic church - is going commercial in July to meet rising costs.
first in line Planned Parenthood
Update from Powerline - The talking points on Sotomayor - The talking point portraying Sotomayor as a "moderate" is probably the most interesting of the batch. This is not the view of lawyers who practice before her, as reflected in the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary. As for the claim that she agrees with Republican-appointed colleagues in 95 percent of cases, this statistic will need to be examined against those of other judges. Unlike with the Supreme Court, litigants have an automatic right to appeal to federal courts of appeals such as the one Sotomayor sits on. Thus, unlike the Supreme Court, federal courts of appeal receive a large volume of cases as to which there is no serious controversy
Sotomayor to the Supreme Court
President Obama is set to announce Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor as his nominee to replace Justice Souter on the Supreme Court.
Sotomayor has a very compelling personal history - Her parents were Puerto Rican immigrants, and despite living in a housing project, her father dying while she was a teenager, and her mother raising her and her brother while working as a nurse, she graduated at the top of her class from Princeton and Yale Law. She has worked as a prosecutor, judge and appellate judge.
She is also an extremely liberal jurist and that troubles Republicans (understandably), and they are already threatening a filibuster.
Huge mistake! First off we are no worse off with her than Souter so why engender the ill will. Secondly it makes the Republicans look hypocritical. After all they bitched and moaned about the way the dems held up nominees. Third, they don't have the votes to sustain a filibuster so save the fight for a time when they can win.
That isn't to say they shouldn't trot out every blemish on her record and fight hard to convince other senators to vote against her. Do that - maybe you will get lucky and some red-state dem will have second thoughts.
Ann Althouse agrees -
Gabriel Malor has more over at Ace of Spades -
Sotomayor has a very compelling personal history - Her parents were Puerto Rican immigrants, and despite living in a housing project, her father dying while she was a teenager, and her mother raising her and her brother while working as a nurse, she graduated at the top of her class from Princeton and Yale Law. She has worked as a prosecutor, judge and appellate judge.
She is also an extremely liberal jurist and that troubles Republicans (understandably), and they are already threatening a filibuster.
Huge mistake! First off we are no worse off with her than Souter so why engender the ill will. Secondly it makes the Republicans look hypocritical. After all they bitched and moaned about the way the dems held up nominees. Third, they don't have the votes to sustain a filibuster so save the fight for a time when they can win.
That isn't to say they shouldn't trot out every blemish on her record and fight hard to convince other senators to vote against her. Do that - maybe you will get lucky and some red-state dem will have second thoughts.
Ann Althouse agrees -
Here's what I think conservatives should do: Accept that she will be confirmed, but use the occasion to sharpen the definition of conservative judicial values and to argue to the American people that these are the better values.
Gabriel Malor has more over at Ace of Spades -
Quotas and Racism: I've been sitting on this for a while--actually, I've been trying to write some coherent thoughts about it--but now is the time: Sonia Sotomayor embraces quotas, the inherently "better" wisdom of Latina women over white men, and labels state judiciaries as sexist. Seriously now, click that link. Morgen at Verum Serum continued to dig through Sotomayor's past and found a disturbing speech on race and sex which Sotomayor gave in 2001.
I've read the whole thing and it is worse than the excerpts he provides.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Around the Moronosphere in 60 Minutes 5/24/09
Hey I got the date right the first time this time. Yay Me!
Doubleplusundead - man up, er, nancies. - "Why do we spend so much goddamned time wringing our hands about the fact that the media and the left are going to distort and twist what it is conservatives or GOPers say? The ad isn't sexist, man up and say it, and slap down any leftist who says otherwise."
Why? Because we let Allahpundit set so the agenda on much of what we talk about. He thinks that the ad will be perceived as meanspirited and sexist so people spend the next 6 days trying to prove him wrong. Personally I don't think the ad makes any sense but then I thought the movie Goldfinger sucked too.
The Belmont Club - Hezbollah has been linked to the murder of Rafik Hariri. - Sources close to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon have revealed that investigators now believe Hezbollah was linked to the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, German weekly magazine ‘Der Spiegel’ reported on its website on Saturday.
Hold on now! That's just crazy talk! After all it was just Monday that the Pakistani press informed us that Dick Cheney was behind the assassination of Al Hariri and we know that Cheney is closely aligned with the secret Jewish cabal that rules the world. Or maybe... Hezbollah and Cheney were in it together. Yeah that's the ticket.
The Bit Maelstrom - Cartoon from 1950's explains the capitalist system
Kind of light on the blog front this AM. Must be the long weekend. Onward ever onward is the motto here at Kuru Lounge (or is it "Downward ever downward" can never keep them straight) though so here is the news:
Al-Jazeera - Hezbollah denies Hariri murder role - Hezbollah, an armed Lebanese political group, has denied a German magazine report linking it to the killing of Rafiq al-Hariri, a former Lebanese prime minister.
Sure when it's a denial about Hezbollah and assassinations it gets printed. Cheney not so much
BBC - Pakistan still fighting in SWAT - Pakistan's army says it has recaptured several areas of Mingora, the main city in the Swat valley, as its offensive against the Taliban continues.
...
But clashes are still continuing with soldiers and militants engaged in hand-to-hand fighting at some of the city's main intersections, the army says.
DAWN - Official recounts Taliban’s doggedness - "Although the military has made significant gains, commanders held out little prospect for an early end to the fighting. ‘We cannot give any timeline for an end to fighting,’ said Gen Ghani.
The main objective of the military operation was to dismantle the militants’ fighting machine and to wipe out their leadership, the general recalled.
The loss of Matta might have weakened the Taliban, but they are still putting up fierce resistance in some key areas, demonstrating their prowess to fight a prolonged war. "
The Economist - Bust and boom - The price of oil has leapt to nearly $62 a barrel. Another spike may be on the way...
The explanation is simple. Oilmen are worried because they believe that many of the factors behind the record-breaking ascent last year remain in place.
$4.00 a gallon by the end of the summer baby! and in large part we can thank Obama and the Dems. They will blame some Bush policy that is loosely linked to oil production but really after President Obama's election the search for new sources of oil has pretty well dried up and Cap and Trade and other restrictions are going to make matters worse.
Washington Post - The Three Wolves make the big time - For a day or two, a black T-shirt featuring an image of three wolves baying at a full moon claimed the top slot at the online store's clothing bestseller list,, beating out the usual, unremarkable mix of Levi's 505 regular-fit jeans, Crocs clogs and Adidas running shoes.
And really, why wouldn't you buy the shirt, which is priced from $7.65 to $17.93, depending on your size? Just read the long and growing list of customer testimonials promising earth-shattering experiences or psychedelic vision quests upon purchase.
Kuru Lounge brought you news of this awesome shirt earlier this week and now even more proof of it's awesome powers over the space/time continuum
Yahoo - Liberals ask how they lost gun, Guantanamo votes - WASHINGTON – Frustrated liberals are asking why a Democratic-controlled Congress and White House can't manage to close the Guantanamo prison or keep new gun-rights laws from passing.
I'd like to know too so we can make sure they keep losing
Doubleplusundead - man up, er, nancies. - "Why do we spend so much goddamned time wringing our hands about the fact that the media and the left are going to distort and twist what it is conservatives or GOPers say? The ad isn't sexist, man up and say it, and slap down any leftist who says otherwise."
Why? Because we let Allahpundit set so the agenda on much of what we talk about. He thinks that the ad will be perceived as meanspirited and sexist so people spend the next 6 days trying to prove him wrong. Personally I don't think the ad makes any sense but then I thought the movie Goldfinger sucked too.
The Belmont Club - Hezbollah has been linked to the murder of Rafik Hariri. - Sources close to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon have revealed that investigators now believe Hezbollah was linked to the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, German weekly magazine ‘Der Spiegel’ reported on its website on Saturday.
Hold on now! That's just crazy talk! After all it was just Monday that the Pakistani press informed us that Dick Cheney was behind the assassination of Al Hariri and we know that Cheney is closely aligned with the secret Jewish cabal that rules the world. Or maybe... Hezbollah and Cheney were in it together. Yeah that's the ticket.
The Bit Maelstrom - Cartoon from 1950's explains the capitalist system
Kind of light on the blog front this AM. Must be the long weekend. Onward ever onward is the motto here at Kuru Lounge (or is it "Downward ever downward" can never keep them straight) though so here is the news:
Al-Jazeera - Hezbollah denies Hariri murder role - Hezbollah, an armed Lebanese political group, has denied a German magazine report linking it to the killing of Rafiq al-Hariri, a former Lebanese prime minister.
Sure when it's a denial about Hezbollah and assassinations it gets printed. Cheney not so much
BBC - Pakistan still fighting in SWAT - Pakistan's army says it has recaptured several areas of Mingora, the main city in the Swat valley, as its offensive against the Taliban continues.
...
But clashes are still continuing with soldiers and militants engaged in hand-to-hand fighting at some of the city's main intersections, the army says.
DAWN - Official recounts Taliban’s doggedness - "Although the military has made significant gains, commanders held out little prospect for an early end to the fighting. ‘We cannot give any timeline for an end to fighting,’ said Gen Ghani.
The main objective of the military operation was to dismantle the militants’ fighting machine and to wipe out their leadership, the general recalled.
The loss of Matta might have weakened the Taliban, but they are still putting up fierce resistance in some key areas, demonstrating their prowess to fight a prolonged war. "
The Economist - Bust and boom - The price of oil has leapt to nearly $62 a barrel. Another spike may be on the way...
The explanation is simple. Oilmen are worried because they believe that many of the factors behind the record-breaking ascent last year remain in place.
$4.00 a gallon by the end of the summer baby! and in large part we can thank Obama and the Dems. They will blame some Bush policy that is loosely linked to oil production but really after President Obama's election the search for new sources of oil has pretty well dried up and Cap and Trade and other restrictions are going to make matters worse.
Washington Post - The Three Wolves make the big time - For a day or two, a black T-shirt featuring an image of three wolves baying at a full moon claimed the top slot at the online store's clothing bestseller list,, beating out the usual, unremarkable mix of Levi's 505 regular-fit jeans, Crocs clogs and Adidas running shoes.
And really, why wouldn't you buy the shirt, which is priced from $7.65 to $17.93, depending on your size? Just read the long and growing list of customer testimonials promising earth-shattering experiences or psychedelic vision quests upon purchase.
Kuru Lounge brought you news of this awesome shirt earlier this week and now even more proof of it's awesome powers over the space/time continuum
Yahoo - Liberals ask how they lost gun, Guantanamo votes - WASHINGTON – Frustrated liberals are asking why a Democratic-controlled Congress and White House can't manage to close the Guantanamo prison or keep new gun-rights laws from passing.
I'd like to know too so we can make sure they keep losing
Saturday, May 23, 2009
And it begins again - Around the Moronosphere in 60 minutes 4/23/2009 5/23/09
OK my internet finally seems stable enough to attempt going through the 80 plus blogs and 30 some newspapers that make up one of the round-ups again.
While I was down (most of this week) I picked up 15 new followers on twitter so this will be first for them. Welcome, If you have a blog you want included send me the URL and I will add it to my RSS feed.
Ace - Finally the new server is up. Will reliability be improved? Probably not. Nature abhors a vacuum so it's not going to let all that bitching that the frequent crashes at AoS engendered go without a fit.
Back Talk - Obama's Greatest Achievement (so far) - "That would be restoring George Bush's national security credentials, and it is an impressive accomplishment, indeed. He has basically adopted all of Bush's policies, with the notable exception of embracing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. On that subject, Bush was thoughtful and analytical (as always, in spite of what you mistakenly think), whereas Obama was as intellectually superficial as he was morally pompous. He still is."
I don't know I think singlehandedly dismantling the American economy is proving pretty impressive too.
Betsy - Why Waxman and Markey's cap and trade bill is even worse than expected - Leadership by committee.
Dilbert - Remind me again who ruined the economy? was it the witches?
Hot Air - Mancow gets waterboarded - Chicago radio shock jock gets waterboarded and calls it torture - Watch the video decide for yourself. I will readily admit that it is torturous but is it torture - "causing lasting physical or mental harm" I don't think so.
Locusts and Honey provides a link to the 10 greatest Libertarian Sci-Fi novels of all time.
The Other McCain has their weekly Full Metal Jacket Reach Around Saturday. - Once again Kuru Lounge gets dissed. Just kidding I do appreciate the traffic bumps from the links.
OK that's it for now. I was so behind on these I didn't get a chance to go thru the papers, but I will clear the backlog from google reader and hopefully have things back to normal soon.
Oh and so I am prepared for Rule 5 Sunday - Jana Defi
I am not sure what she was doing to require two fire extinguishers but I wanna watch.
While I was down (most of this week) I picked up 15 new followers on twitter so this will be first for them. Welcome, If you have a blog you want included send me the URL and I will add it to my RSS feed.
Ace - Finally the new server is up. Will reliability be improved? Probably not. Nature abhors a vacuum so it's not going to let all that bitching that the frequent crashes at AoS engendered go without a fit.
Back Talk - Obama's Greatest Achievement (so far) - "That would be restoring George Bush's national security credentials, and it is an impressive accomplishment, indeed. He has basically adopted all of Bush's policies, with the notable exception of embracing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. On that subject, Bush was thoughtful and analytical (as always, in spite of what you mistakenly think), whereas Obama was as intellectually superficial as he was morally pompous. He still is."
I don't know I think singlehandedly dismantling the American economy is proving pretty impressive too.
Betsy - Why Waxman and Markey's cap and trade bill is even worse than expected - Leadership by committee.
Dilbert - Remind me again who ruined the economy? was it the witches?
Hot Air - Mancow gets waterboarded - Chicago radio shock jock gets waterboarded and calls it torture - Watch the video decide for yourself. I will readily admit that it is torturous but is it torture - "causing lasting physical or mental harm" I don't think so.
Locusts and Honey provides a link to the 10 greatest Libertarian Sci-Fi novels of all time.
The Other McCain has their weekly Full Metal Jacket Reach Around Saturday. - Once again Kuru Lounge gets dissed. Just kidding I do appreciate the traffic bumps from the links.
OK that's it for now. I was so behind on these I didn't get a chance to go thru the papers, but I will clear the backlog from google reader and hopefully have things back to normal soon.
Oh and so I am prepared for Rule 5 Sunday - Jana Defi
I am not sure what she was doing to require two fire extinguishers but I wanna watch.
Friday, May 22, 2009
So whats up with Kuru Lounge???
Earlier this week my comcast internet went out and I haven't been able to get it back up. I switched back over to my old speakeasy account but now that is running at slower than dial-up speeds. Essentially I am without internet unless I go to my parents or the library. Unfortunately the library isn't open at 0500 when I am trying to do moronosphere round-ups and if I drive to my parents house and pound on the door at 0500 I am likely to get shot. Neither one of them is a really morning person.
So I have been an entire week now without being able to follow The Other McCain's rule 2 although now that I have temporary access I see that smitty has an article up referencing Jerry Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureacracy and the financial situation in California.
So I have been an entire week now without being able to follow The Other McCain's rule 2 although now that I have temporary access I see that smitty has an article up referencing Jerry Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureacracy and the financial situation in California.
Essentially without internet again
Took ten minutes for this window to finally open. not sure what is going on.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Come the Revolution - a new series
Way back when there used people (and by that I mean me and my imaginary friends) used to say "Come the Revolution such and such will be the first up against the wall"
Today I start a new ongoing series entitled Come the Revolution. Everytime I get a few of these I will throw them up. Reader participation encouraged.
1. Come the revolution the history channel will be required to show some history related shows. Put UFOs and Monsters on the BS channel. Similarily MTV must at some point in their broadcast day show a music video.
2. Come the revolution there will be a day of public spectacle and wonder where politicians will have to line up in their home district to allow any constituent who wants to to kick them in the ass.
3. Come the revolution teachers will actually have to teach not just attend. Kids will actually have to go to school 5 days a week. If there is a professional development day on Friday better get ready to go to class on Saturday.
4. Come the revolution Dominos will be required to reinstitute the 30 minute guarantee. If necessary their cars will be given the same or higher legal status as emergency vehicles.
Today I start a new ongoing series entitled Come the Revolution. Everytime I get a few of these I will throw them up. Reader participation encouraged.
1. Come the revolution the history channel will be required to show some history related shows. Put UFOs and Monsters on the BS channel. Similarily MTV must at some point in their broadcast day show a music video.
2. Come the revolution there will be a day of public spectacle and wonder where politicians will have to line up in their home district to allow any constituent who wants to to kick them in the ass.
3. Come the revolution teachers will actually have to teach not just attend. Kids will actually have to go to school 5 days a week. If there is a professional development day on Friday better get ready to go to class on Saturday.
4. Come the revolution Dominos will be required to reinstitute the 30 minute guarantee. If necessary their cars will be given the same or higher legal status as emergency vehicles.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
California Prop 8 ruling on Tuesday?
I was checking things out over at memeorandum and came across this:
Exclusive: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Asked Court to Delay Prop 8 Ruling
Clicked thru and it appears at least, according to this source, that the California Supreme Court is ready to issue a ruling on whether or not Prop 8 will stand, but because the day has a special significance in gay history they are holding off:
If this article is accurate, and it's a blog so that is very open to question, my guess is they are going to uphold the constitutionality of Prop 8. Otherwise why wait? It would be a symbol of how far gay civil rights have come if they overturned the voters what better way to celebrate Harvey Milk?
Exclusive: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Asked Court to Delay Prop 8 Ruling
Clicked thru and it appears at least, according to this source, that the California Supreme Court is ready to issue a ruling on whether or not Prop 8 will stand, but because the day has a special significance in gay history they are holding off:
As mentioned earlier, a ruling Thursday would have fallen on the 30th anniversary of the San Francisco riots, which were set off when the court handed down the most lenient decision possible (voluntary manslaughter) against Dan White for the murders of supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. The ensuing riots in San Francisco on May 21, 1979 caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.
If this article is accurate, and it's a blog so that is very open to question, my guess is they are going to uphold the constitutionality of Prop 8. Otherwise why wait? It would be a symbol of how far gay civil rights have come if they overturned the voters what better way to celebrate Harvey Milk?
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Great Product Reviews on Amazon.com
From the blog which brought you the best craigslist ad ever comes great moments in Amazon.com product reviews.
The product:
Selected Reviews:
This item has wolves on it which makes it intrinsically sweet and worth 5 stars by itself, but once I tried it on, that's when the magic happened. After checking to ensure that the shirt would properly cover my girth, I walked from my trailer to Wal-mart with the shirt on and was immediately approached by women. The women knew from the wolves on my shirt that I, like a wolf, am a mysterious loner who knows how to 'howl at the moon' from time to time (if you catch my drift!). The women that approached me wanted to know if I would be their boyfriend and/or give them money for something they called mehth. I told them no, because they didn't have enough teeth, and frankly a man with a wolf-shirt shouldn't settle for the first thing that comes to him.
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.
Pros: Fits my girthy frame, has wolves on it, attracts women
Cons: Only 3 wolves (could probably use a few more on the 'guns'), cannot see wolves when sitting with arms crossed, wolves would have been better if they glowed in the dark.
I bought this shirt because it looked pretty sweet. I had not read anything about it back then.
However, I made the mistake of wearing it to work last Tuesday. I had a disagreement with one of my coworkers, and I started to get a bit angry. The wolves reacted to my anger. They suddenly burst forth from my shirt and tore him from limb to limb, slowly eating his entrails while he watched in pain. They then opened a spirit portal to his home, and did the same to his family, as he watched. Once they had their fill, they came back through the portal, bit into his neck and suffocated him while I watched. After this they decreed my new name was Abenaki Delaware of the tribe of the wolf, and they returned to my shirt. Police arrived shortly thereafter.
I am now in a mental health facility.
Pros: They will smite your enemies.
Cons: They will smite the innocent to punish your enemies, something you may not morally agree with. People will not believe that the shirt killed your enemies.
One wolf howling at the moon T-shirt? Good.
Two wolves howling at the moon T-shirt? Great.
THREE wolves howling at the moon T-shirt? OMFG!!!
Simply put, this is the greatest garment known to man. At least until the team of scientists and silk-screeners working round the clock find a way to put FOUR wolves howling at the moon on a T-shirt.
This is the T-shirt God would wear. If He wanted to look AWESOME.
I don't want to brag, but ever since I purchased the three wolf moon T-shirt (ok I actually bought 3 of them) I have had the best luck. My grandmother found my knujmchucks under her bed, my D&D character has reached 19th level cunning brilliance, I have convinced my cousin that our two kids should have parents that are married, I completed my final fantasy marathon of beating all of the final fantasy games in one consecutive sitting (even got a bootleg copy of XIII), and taco bell promoted me and taught me the secret bean recipe. Yes, life is good and all thanks to the three wolf moon t-shirt.
With reviews like that how can you go wrong?
The product:
Selected Reviews:
This item has wolves on it which makes it intrinsically sweet and worth 5 stars by itself, but once I tried it on, that's when the magic happened. After checking to ensure that the shirt would properly cover my girth, I walked from my trailer to Wal-mart with the shirt on and was immediately approached by women. The women knew from the wolves on my shirt that I, like a wolf, am a mysterious loner who knows how to 'howl at the moon' from time to time (if you catch my drift!). The women that approached me wanted to know if I would be their boyfriend and/or give them money for something they called mehth. I told them no, because they didn't have enough teeth, and frankly a man with a wolf-shirt shouldn't settle for the first thing that comes to him.
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.
Pros: Fits my girthy frame, has wolves on it, attracts women
Cons: Only 3 wolves (could probably use a few more on the 'guns'), cannot see wolves when sitting with arms crossed, wolves would have been better if they glowed in the dark.
I bought this shirt because it looked pretty sweet. I had not read anything about it back then.
However, I made the mistake of wearing it to work last Tuesday. I had a disagreement with one of my coworkers, and I started to get a bit angry. The wolves reacted to my anger. They suddenly burst forth from my shirt and tore him from limb to limb, slowly eating his entrails while he watched in pain. They then opened a spirit portal to his home, and did the same to his family, as he watched. Once they had their fill, they came back through the portal, bit into his neck and suffocated him while I watched. After this they decreed my new name was Abenaki Delaware of the tribe of the wolf, and they returned to my shirt. Police arrived shortly thereafter.
I am now in a mental health facility.
Pros: They will smite your enemies.
Cons: They will smite the innocent to punish your enemies, something you may not morally agree with. People will not believe that the shirt killed your enemies.
One wolf howling at the moon T-shirt? Good.
Two wolves howling at the moon T-shirt? Great.
THREE wolves howling at the moon T-shirt? OMFG!!!
Simply put, this is the greatest garment known to man. At least until the team of scientists and silk-screeners working round the clock find a way to put FOUR wolves howling at the moon on a T-shirt.
This is the T-shirt God would wear. If He wanted to look AWESOME.
I don't want to brag, but ever since I purchased the three wolf moon T-shirt (ok I actually bought 3 of them) I have had the best luck. My grandmother found my knujmchucks under her bed, my D&D character has reached 19th level cunning brilliance, I have convinced my cousin that our two kids should have parents that are married, I completed my final fantasy marathon of beating all of the final fantasy games in one consecutive sitting (even got a bootleg copy of XIII), and taco bell promoted me and taught me the secret bean recipe. Yes, life is good and all thanks to the three wolf moon t-shirt.
With reviews like that how can you go wrong?
Feds to check immigration status of all local prisoners
Vast expansion of Bush era program expected to identify up to 1.2 million criminal illegal aliens in four years.
OK giving credit where it's due this is an Obama administration policy I can support even though I am sure that there is some underside here that I won't be thrilled with when I find out about it.
politics, immigration
The Obama administration is expanding a program initiated by President George W. Bush aimed at checking the immigration status of virtually every person booked into local jails. In four years, the measure could result in a tenfold increase in illegal immigrants who have been convicted of crimes and identified for deportation, current and former U.S. officials said.
...
Venturella said ICE will give priority to deporting the most dangerous offenders: national security risks or those convicted of violent crimes. Based on initial projections, the agency estimates that 100,000 of these are "Level 1 offenders" and that deporting them would cost $1.1 billion over four years. Removing all criminal illegal immigrants would cost $3 billion, ICE estimated last year.
OK giving credit where it's due this is an Obama administration policy I can support even though I am sure that there is some underside here that I won't be thrilled with when I find out about it.
politics, immigration
Monday, May 18, 2009
It gets better - Hersch -Guards at Abu Gharib raped children in front of their mothers
I was following up on the Cheney ordered Bhutto killed story when I came across this in DAWN:
Actually the speech was made in July 2004 (before I started blogging or I would have been all over it) and as far as I know no proof has ever emerged to document it as true, but here it is 5 years later being reported in a major Pakistani paper.
Think that isn't going to cause problems?
Someone needs to get Hersch a can of STFU.
Mr Hersh recently gave a speech to the American Civil Liberties Union making the charge that children were sodomised in front of women in the prison, and the Pentagon had tape of it.
Actually the speech was made in July 2004 (before I started blogging or I would have been all over it) and as far as I know no proof has ever emerged to document it as true, but here it is 5 years later being reported in a major Pakistani paper.
Think that isn't going to cause problems?
Someone needs to get Hersch a can of STFU.
Dick Cheney Had Benazir Bhutto Killed By A Special Hit Squad - Not!!!!!
or so claims The Nation.
Wow! There apparently is no limit to the evil that is Dick Cheney.Not only that but he apparently was assassinating Americans too in order to secure his base of power: I initially misread the following passage it was talking about foreign opponents and I thought it was talking about domestic opponents.
and of course the Jews were deeply involved, I mean after all whats a conspiracy without a Jewish mastermind:
Or maybe, and I am just spitballing here, this is a giant crock of shit dreamed up by some anti-semitic Pakistani conspiracy theorist trying to smear America nad drum up support for the taliban / al-Qaeda. Just saying is all.
I am looking for a transcript of the Seymour Hersch interview where this was supposedly revealed.
The American Spectator has more as does Down With Tyranny. This has also been picked up by an Indian website. I have no way to gauge it's readership, but with our luck it is probably the most popular and trusted website in India.
I know the current administration is no fan of Dick Cheney but this has the potential to hurt American interests deeply. President Obama should have someone out there denying this immediately. Seymour Hersh has already done so in the Daily Times of Pakistan:
Update: This has hit DAWN which is a mainstream Pakistani newspaper now. The content is essentially the same as The Nation and Thaidian above but doesn't include the Hersch's denial. This has the potential to be big trouble.
BTW Kurulounge is the #1 Google search result for this. Woo Hoo!
Benazir Bhutto, Dick Cheney, Pakistan
NEW YORK (Online) - Former prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on the orders of the special death squad formed by former US vice-president Dick Cheney, which had already killed the Lebanese Prime Minister Rafique Al Hariri and the army chief of that country.
The squad was headed by General Stanley McChrystal, the newly-appointed commander of US army in Afghanistan. It was disclosed by reputed US journalist Seymour Hersh while talking to an Arab TV in an interview.
Wow! There apparently is no limit to the evil that is Dick Cheney.
Hersh said former US vice-president Cheney was the chief of the Joint Special Operation Command and he clear the way for the US by exterminating opponents through the unit and the CIA. General Stanley was the in-charge of the unit.
and of course the Jews were deeply involved, I mean after all whats a conspiracy without a Jewish mastermind:
Seymour also said that Rafiq Al Hariri and the Lebanese army chief were murdered for not safeguarding the US interests and refusing US setting up military bases in Lebanon. Ariel Sharon, the then prime minister of Israel, was also a key man in the plot.
Or maybe, and I am just spitballing here, this is a giant crock of shit dreamed up by some anti-semitic Pakistani conspiracy theorist trying to smear America nad drum up support for the taliban / al-Qaeda. Just saying is all.
I am looking for a transcript of the Seymour Hersch interview where this was supposedly revealed.
The American Spectator has more as does Down With Tyranny. This has also been picked up by an Indian website. I have no way to gauge it's readership, but with our luck it is probably the most popular and trusted website in India.
I know the current administration is no fan of Dick Cheney but this has the potential to hurt American interests deeply. President Obama should have someone out there denying this immediately. Seymour Hersh has already done so in the Daily Times of Pakistan:
The award-winning journalist described as “complete madness” the reports that the squad headed by General Stanley McChrystal – the new commander of US army in Afghanistan – had also killed former Lebanese prime minister Rafique Al Hariri and a Lebanese army chief. “Vice president Cheney does not have a death squad. I have no idea who killed Mr Hariri or Mrs Bhutto,” Hersh said. “I have never said that I did have such information. I most certainly did not say anything remotely to that effect during an interview with an Arab media outlet.” He said Gen McChrystal had run a special forces unit that engaged in “high value target activity”, but “while I have been critical of some of that unit’s activities in the pages of the New Yorker and in interviews, I have never suggested that he was involved in political assassinations or death squads on behalf of Mr Cheney, as the published stories state.”
Update: This has hit DAWN which is a mainstream Pakistani newspaper now. The content is essentially the same as The Nation and Thaidian above but doesn't include the Hersch's denial. This has the potential to be big trouble.
BTW Kurulounge is the #1 Google search result for this. Woo Hoo!
Benazir Bhutto, Dick Cheney, Pakistan
Exciting updates
I have a calculus midterm and a programming midterm tomorrow. Fun stuff. I did discover that it is a lot easier to study at barnes and noble than at home. Amazingly a slavish devotion to blogging as well as the military channel are more distraction than I can handle.
Other news. Twitterfeed is apparently down so the world is being denied the awesomeness that is my thought process. Damn you twitterfeed.
Registered for classes today. Another Calc class. Java programming and Spanish. The schedule for spanish is insane. 3 hours per day for 30 days for spanish 1 and the same for spanish 2 if I can take it right after spanish 1. The upside is it cuts a quarter off when I can transfer.
Other news. Twitterfeed is apparently down so the world is being denied the awesomeness that is my thought process. Damn you twitterfeed.
Registered for classes today. Another Calc class. Java programming and Spanish. The schedule for spanish is insane. 3 hours per day for 30 days for spanish 1 and the same for spanish 2 if I can take it right after spanish 1. The upside is it cuts a quarter off when I can transfer.
Around the Moronosphere in 60 Minutes 5/18/09
OK First Off I am stupid I misdated the last few of these so I need to go retitle them.
Now that I have confessed my retardation the roundup can begin.
Betsy - two related posts looking the effects of taxes on a states economic health:
Learn from California's mistakes and Voting with their feet.
Read and Learn people
Flopping Aces - Jim Webb comes to his senses - "Webb, however, has done a complete reversal from his original position on Gitmo stretching back to April 2007, when he not only advocated closing Gitmo, but either running the detainees thru the US judicial system, or declaring them prisoners of war."
Instapundit - The NY Times shows us how to kill a story.
Little Green Footballs - Muslim Brotherhood Faltering in Egypt - If true this is good news. Egypt has always been a leader in the Islamist movement. If it is faltering there that portends good things.
The Art of Manliness - Theodore Roosevelt Motivational Posters
Innocent Bystanders - Worlds Stupidist Video - This guy supposedly wants his girlfriend to forgive him for something but instead of apologing he makes an 8 minute video about what a stud he is. Missing the point I think. The cheese factor is awesome though.
The Other McCain - Centrist Geek at a Conservative Prom - I don't agree with everything McCain says here, for example on Bush and entitlement spending, yes he did bring in the prescription drug benefit, but he also tried to pass social security and medicare reform, but a lot of it is true.
Other Stuff:
Al-Jazeera - Pakistan holds Swat emergency talks - "Pakistan's prime minister has gathered political parties for emergency talks on the situation in the northwest, where security forces have entered two Taliban-held towns.
Yusuf Raza Gilani said the army would stay in the Swat valley until the more than one million displaced residents can return safely."
Dawn - Military closes in on Mingora, pounds militant targets - PESHAWAR: Military jets and helicopters on Monday bombarded militant targets in Swat, where troops entered strategic towns in a pincer thrust towards the Taliban-held capital of the northwest valley.
Pakistani authorities are claiming 1000 Taliban killed out of 4 to 5000 in the SWAT valley. If true that has to be devastating to the Taliban.
Pakistan rapidly adding to its nuclear arms, says US - WASHINGTON: In confidential congress briefings, members have been told that despite being racked by an insurgency, Pakistan is rapidly adding to its nuclear arsenal, raising doubts on Capitol Hill’s proposed military aid of billions of dollars being directed to Pakistan’s nuclear program, the New York Times reported.
but at least they're safe
Pakistan’s N-weapons are safe: Obama - NEW YORK: US President Barack Obama has expressed confidence that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are safe and said that the Pakistani military is equipped to prevent extremists from taking over the nuclear arsenal.
Fox News - Scholars Plan U.S.' First Four-Year Accredited Islamic College - PLAINSBORO, N.J. — A group of American Muslims, led by two prominent scholars, is moving closer to fulfilling a vision of founding the first four-year accredited Islamic college in the United States, what some are calling a "Muslim Georgetown."
No word on whether suicide bombing will be a required or elective course. (insert rimshot here) OK that was unfair I know not all Muslims are terrorists or suicide bombers but come the joke just had to be made. The bigger question I guess is will the cheerleaders be required to wear burkhas? OK Enough with the jokes back to the serious stuff.
France 24 - Thousands gather for protest in favour of a 'secular Turkey' - About 20,000 protesters gathered in Istanbul on Sunday, calling for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's resignation. The protesters accuse Erdogan of violating the nation's secular principles, as well as of mishandling the economy.
NY Times - Biblical Quotes Said to Adorn Pentagon Reports -WASHINGTON — A series of cover sheets for intelligence reports written for Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and other senior Pentagon officials during the early days of the war in Iraq in 2003 were adorned with biblical quotations, and appeared Sunday, six years later, on the Web site of GQ magazine.
...
Lawrence Di Rita, the Pentagon spokesman during Mr. Rumsfeld’s time as secretary of defense, said that he had no recollection of the biblical briefs, but that he doubted the famously acerbic and sometimes cranky secretary would have tolerated them for long, much less shared them with Mr. Bush.
“The suggestion that Rumsfeld would have used these reports to somehow curry favor over at the White House is pretty laughable,” Mr. Di Rita said. “He bristled anytime people put quotes or something extraneous on the reports he wanted to read.”
12 non consecutive cover sheets spread over a month. My opinion is someone was just trying to put together motivational images and quotes and not really thinking about the source but you judge for yourself.
Yahoo / Politico - Obama makes quiet play for GOP aid - President Barack Obama’s first date with House Republicans didn’t end so well: He made a high-profile trip to the Capitol to ask for their help with his economic stimulus plan, and they said no — unanimously, twice.
Now Obama is trying again — more quietly and with a smaller group of moderate Republicans who might be more willing to say yes. The goal: Try to get at least some Republicans to back big-ticket items such as Obama’s health care plan, but avoid the public spectacle of being rejected a second time around.
And suckers that we are the GOP will fall for it
Blogs, Moronosphere
Now that I have confessed my retardation the roundup can begin.
Betsy - two related posts looking the effects of taxes on a states economic health:
Learn from California's mistakes and Voting with their feet.
Read and Learn people
Flopping Aces - Jim Webb comes to his senses - "Webb, however, has done a complete reversal from his original position on Gitmo stretching back to April 2007, when he not only advocated closing Gitmo, but either running the detainees thru the US judicial system, or declaring them prisoners of war."
Instapundit - The NY Times shows us how to kill a story.
Little Green Footballs - Muslim Brotherhood Faltering in Egypt - If true this is good news. Egypt has always been a leader in the Islamist movement. If it is faltering there that portends good things.
The Art of Manliness - Theodore Roosevelt Motivational Posters
Innocent Bystanders - Worlds Stupidist Video - This guy supposedly wants his girlfriend to forgive him for something but instead of apologing he makes an 8 minute video about what a stud he is. Missing the point I think. The cheese factor is awesome though.
The Other McCain - Centrist Geek at a Conservative Prom - I don't agree with everything McCain says here, for example on Bush and entitlement spending, yes he did bring in the prescription drug benefit, but he also tried to pass social security and medicare reform, but a lot of it is true.
Other Stuff:
Al-Jazeera - Pakistan holds Swat emergency talks - "Pakistan's prime minister has gathered political parties for emergency talks on the situation in the northwest, where security forces have entered two Taliban-held towns.
Yusuf Raza Gilani said the army would stay in the Swat valley until the more than one million displaced residents can return safely."
Dawn - Military closes in on Mingora, pounds militant targets - PESHAWAR: Military jets and helicopters on Monday bombarded militant targets in Swat, where troops entered strategic towns in a pincer thrust towards the Taliban-held capital of the northwest valley.
Pakistani authorities are claiming 1000 Taliban killed out of 4 to 5000 in the SWAT valley. If true that has to be devastating to the Taliban.
Pakistan rapidly adding to its nuclear arms, says US - WASHINGTON: In confidential congress briefings, members have been told that despite being racked by an insurgency, Pakistan is rapidly adding to its nuclear arsenal, raising doubts on Capitol Hill’s proposed military aid of billions of dollars being directed to Pakistan’s nuclear program, the New York Times reported.
but at least they're safe
Pakistan’s N-weapons are safe: Obama - NEW YORK: US President Barack Obama has expressed confidence that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are safe and said that the Pakistani military is equipped to prevent extremists from taking over the nuclear arsenal.
Fox News - Scholars Plan U.S.' First Four-Year Accredited Islamic College - PLAINSBORO, N.J. — A group of American Muslims, led by two prominent scholars, is moving closer to fulfilling a vision of founding the first four-year accredited Islamic college in the United States, what some are calling a "Muslim Georgetown."
No word on whether suicide bombing will be a required or elective course. (insert rimshot here) OK that was unfair I know not all Muslims are terrorists or suicide bombers but come the joke just had to be made. The bigger question I guess is will the cheerleaders be required to wear burkhas? OK Enough with the jokes back to the serious stuff.
France 24 - Thousands gather for protest in favour of a 'secular Turkey' - About 20,000 protesters gathered in Istanbul on Sunday, calling for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's resignation. The protesters accuse Erdogan of violating the nation's secular principles, as well as of mishandling the economy.
NY Times - Biblical Quotes Said to Adorn Pentagon Reports -WASHINGTON — A series of cover sheets for intelligence reports written for Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and other senior Pentagon officials during the early days of the war in Iraq in 2003 were adorned with biblical quotations, and appeared Sunday, six years later, on the Web site of GQ magazine.
...
Lawrence Di Rita, the Pentagon spokesman during Mr. Rumsfeld’s time as secretary of defense, said that he had no recollection of the biblical briefs, but that he doubted the famously acerbic and sometimes cranky secretary would have tolerated them for long, much less shared them with Mr. Bush.
“The suggestion that Rumsfeld would have used these reports to somehow curry favor over at the White House is pretty laughable,” Mr. Di Rita said. “He bristled anytime people put quotes or something extraneous on the reports he wanted to read.”
12 non consecutive cover sheets spread over a month. My opinion is someone was just trying to put together motivational images and quotes and not really thinking about the source but you judge for yourself.
Yahoo / Politico - Obama makes quiet play for GOP aid - President Barack Obama’s first date with House Republicans didn’t end so well: He made a high-profile trip to the Capitol to ask for their help with his economic stimulus plan, and they said no — unanimously, twice.
Now Obama is trying again — more quietly and with a smaller group of moderate Republicans who might be more willing to say yes. The goal: Try to get at least some Republicans to back big-ticket items such as Obama’s health care plan, but avoid the public spectacle of being rejected a second time around.
And suckers that we are the GOP will fall for it
Blogs, Moronosphere
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Around the Moronosphere in 60 Minutes 5/17/09
Cold Fury - Waterboard Pelosi - "It’s the only way we’ll ever find out what this hardened, recalcitrant liar knew, and when she knew it."
Powerline - Seven Days in May - "Nancy Pelosi has given us Seven Days in May with a difference. The CIA has exposed Pelosi's prevarication and ineptitude."
Seven Days in May may have been a liberal fantasy but as I recall it was also a pretty good book
Wizbang - News Flash: Polar Ice Caps Not Melting - James Delingpole brings us the news that a team of global warming explorers headed up to the North Pole to bring attention to all the damage global warming is wreaking on the polar ice caps. Sadly, they ran into a variety of problems that subfreezing temperatures tend to cause, one of which was they found that the ice caps are not melting but - shock!- are freezing.
My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy - um, a pole dancing competition? - Anyway, the purpose of a pole dance is to be sexy, but when this woman is holding herself on the pole just by her legs, all I can think is, go to bed with her and she’ll cut you in half. It’s not so much a stripper dance as it is the Mrs. Charles Atlas body builders trying to be hot.
Obviously Chris hasn't spent much time in strip clubs, or they were pretty crappy ones if he has.
Protein Wisdom - “Critics Still Haven’t Read the ‘Torture’ Memos” - Why read the memos when it's so much easier to just spout off?
The Habitation of Justice - From a Rock Star to a Nobody: Why My Social Life Peaked at Kindergarten - Old but I just saw it
The Other McCain - Rule 5 Sunday - Even though I got totally dissed in the Rule 2 Reach Around yesterday, I made Rule 5 today so all is forgiven.
Thats pretty much it off to do homework now.
Powerline - Seven Days in May - "Nancy Pelosi has given us Seven Days in May with a difference. The CIA has exposed Pelosi's prevarication and ineptitude."
Seven Days in May may have been a liberal fantasy but as I recall it was also a pretty good book
Wizbang - News Flash: Polar Ice Caps Not Melting - James Delingpole brings us the news that a team of global warming explorers headed up to the North Pole to bring attention to all the damage global warming is wreaking on the polar ice caps. Sadly, they ran into a variety of problems that subfreezing temperatures tend to cause, one of which was they found that the ice caps are not melting but - shock!- are freezing.
My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy - um, a pole dancing competition? - Anyway, the purpose of a pole dance is to be sexy, but when this woman is holding herself on the pole just by her legs, all I can think is, go to bed with her and she’ll cut you in half. It’s not so much a stripper dance as it is the Mrs. Charles Atlas body builders trying to be hot.
Obviously Chris hasn't spent much time in strip clubs, or they were pretty crappy ones if he has.
Protein Wisdom - “Critics Still Haven’t Read the ‘Torture’ Memos” - Why read the memos when it's so much easier to just spout off?
The Habitation of Justice - From a Rock Star to a Nobody: Why My Social Life Peaked at Kindergarten - Old but I just saw it
The Other McCain - Rule 5 Sunday - Even though I got totally dissed in the Rule 2 Reach Around yesterday, I made Rule 5 today so all is forgiven.
Thats pretty much it off to do homework now.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Around the Moronosphere in 60 Minutes 5/16/09
Flopping Aces - Greta Van Susteren Mocks Obama - When scientologists find your beliefs wacky you may have a problem.
Little Green Footballs - No More War - War on Drugs that is. Look for legalization talk to start seriously in the next year or two
Patterico's Pontifications - The Left's Latest Conspiracy Theory - "On Wednesday, Col. Lawrence B. Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, claimed that the Bush administration authorized Egypt to waterboard top al Qaeda camp commander Ibn al Shaykh al Libi in order to generate phony intelligence connecting Iraq and al Qaeda, as a pretext for the invasion.
The story took a day to go from a lefty blog to CNN. Wilkerson told the cable net, “I couldn’t walk into a courtroom and prove this to anybody, but I’m pretty sure it’s fairly accurate.”
PRETTY sure it's FAIRLY accurate. What kind of standard is that for a news organization to run with?
Powerline - Kolder on waterboarding - The problem with trying to legally define torture
Slashdot - When does it become OK to make a game about a war? - "The cancellation of Six Days in Fallujah seems to have stirred up almost as much debate as its original announcement. Given the popularity of World War II games, it seems clear that the main concern about a game focusing on modern war events relates to how recently they happened."
You know if this game were done in a historically accurate fashion it could become the new "The World at War". Remember that series?
The Belmont Club - Bits and Pieces - McClatchy reports the Taliban are abandoning guerilla tactics and going head to head with Pakistani security forces.
Generally it is a losing proposition for irregular forces to engage in a traditional battle with a regular army. Overconfidence or desperation?
Caption This - Morbidly Heavy Metal
D=S - Olivia Munn Interviews Sasha Grey - MMMMMMMM Olivia
Innocent Bystanders - Process Engines - Very cool video. watch it.
Invincible Armor - Leon Panetta Calls Pelosi Liar - "Swamp cleaner Pelosi is mired in lies and has totally screwed the pooch after telling the nation that the CIA lied to her. Leon is not happy that America's Nanny lied about the agency he heads just to cover her Ms California butt."
Sweasel - Pretty picture of the Swine Flu
The Other McCain - Why the Keynseians are wrong - "More importantly, the demand-side obsession gets causality backward. Economic growth boosts consumer confidence, not the other way around. Discussion of the consumer "mood" is therefore irrelevant to the project at hand: Developing government policy to promote recovery in the wake of a massive market collapse."
Word Around the Net - Someone shares my complaints about Star Trek - although overall they liked the movie while I felt it was irredeemably ruined by these flaws.
Other Stuff:
Al-Jazeera - Pakistani forces raid Taliban bases - Pakistan's military has launched fresh attacks on suspected Taliban positions in the northwest of the country as thousands more civilians flee the conflict zone.
At least 47 suspected Taliban fighters have been killed in raids by Pakistani forces across the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) in the last 24 hours, the military said on Saturday.
somehow I have the feeling that when we add up all these casualties it's going to be a lot like a vote in Seattle, only instead of more votes than voters we will find that there were more casualties than there were people in SWAT
BBC - Sri Lanka army "defeats rebels" - "The Sri Lankan president has declared a military victory over the Tamil Tigers after 26 years of bloody civil war."
CNN - New search engines aspire to supplement Google - New search engines that are popping up across the Web strive to make searches faster, smarter, more personal and more visually interesting.
Some sites, like Twine and hakia, will try to personalize searches, separating out results you would find interesting, based on your Web use. Others, like Searchme, offer iTunes-like interfaces that let users shuffle through photos and images instead of the standard list of hyperlinks. Kosmix bundles information by type -- from Twitter, from Facebook, from blogs, from the government -- to make it easier to consume.
Dawn - Pakistan presses military offensive as thousands flee - "PESHAWAR: The military Saturday pressed its offensive against Taliban militants in the northwest of the country after tens of thousands more people fled the conflict zone."
Fox News - Pennsylvania Democrats Unsure Whether to Embrace Arlen Specter or Toss Him Back - We don't want him you keep him
France 24 - Sarkozy pledges 12 million euros for Swat valley refugees
LA Times - Panetta fires back at Pelosi on interrogations - The CIA director says agency records show that officials truthfully briefed the House speaker in 2002. He also urges CIA employees to tune out the uproar.
NY Times Books - Two that seem interesting - Weight of a Mustard Seed - "...it’s a relief to read Wendell Steavenson’s “Weight of a Mustard Seed,” a masterly and elegantly told story that weaves together the Iraqi past and present. Her subject is Kamel Sachet, an Iraqi general and war hero who came to despise Hussein, and was finally executed in 1999. Steavenson, a journalist who has written for many English and American publications, set herself a difficult task: Sachet died long before she ever set foot in Iraq. The country began to implode soon after she arrived in 2003, making it even harder to piece together his life. But she succeeds, and makes his story a powerful inquiry into the moral question at the heart of Hussein’s Iraq and so many other dictatorships: Why did people go along with it? Did any resist? And if so, what made them different?
and
Horse Soldiers - In late 2001, small units of elite Special Forces soldiers, working with C.I.A. operatives and Air Force bombers, joined forces with Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance to defeat the country’s ruling Taliban. They didn’t need tanks and 100,000 troops. They rode into battle on horses.
Doug Stanton tells the story of that brief shining moment in “Horse Soldiers,” a rousing, uplifting, Toby Keith-singing piece of work.
NY Times - In Detainee Furor, a Rare Dent in Pelosi Armor
Ex-Governor of Alabama Loses Again in Court - when Karl Rove sets you up you stay set up
Washington Post - No Waterboarding Used in Questioning On Al-Qaeda Ties to Iraq, Officials Say - "Senior intelligence officials yesterday acknowledged that two al-Qaeda operatives, Abu Zubaida and Khalid Sheik Mohammed, had been questioned about alleged links between al-Qaeda and Iraq when the two men underwent CIA interrogation in 2002 and 2003. But the officials denied that the questioning on Iraq had included waterboarding."
Algebra For All: The Push For Higher Math - Educators Are Challenging the Idea That Numerical Ability Must Come Naturally
Little Green Footballs - No More War - War on Drugs that is. Look for legalization talk to start seriously in the next year or two
Patterico's Pontifications - The Left's Latest Conspiracy Theory - "On Wednesday, Col. Lawrence B. Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, claimed that the Bush administration authorized Egypt to waterboard top al Qaeda camp commander Ibn al Shaykh al Libi in order to generate phony intelligence connecting Iraq and al Qaeda, as a pretext for the invasion.
The story took a day to go from a lefty blog to CNN. Wilkerson told the cable net, “I couldn’t walk into a courtroom and prove this to anybody, but I’m pretty sure it’s fairly accurate.”
PRETTY sure it's FAIRLY accurate. What kind of standard is that for a news organization to run with?
Powerline - Kolder on waterboarding - The problem with trying to legally define torture
Slashdot - When does it become OK to make a game about a war? - "The cancellation of Six Days in Fallujah seems to have stirred up almost as much debate as its original announcement. Given the popularity of World War II games, it seems clear that the main concern about a game focusing on modern war events relates to how recently they happened."
You know if this game were done in a historically accurate fashion it could become the new "The World at War". Remember that series?
The Belmont Club - Bits and Pieces - McClatchy reports the Taliban are abandoning guerilla tactics and going head to head with Pakistani security forces.
Generally it is a losing proposition for irregular forces to engage in a traditional battle with a regular army. Overconfidence or desperation?
Caption This - Morbidly Heavy Metal
D=S - Olivia Munn Interviews Sasha Grey - MMMMMMMM Olivia
Innocent Bystanders - Process Engines - Very cool video. watch it.
Invincible Armor - Leon Panetta Calls Pelosi Liar - "Swamp cleaner Pelosi is mired in lies and has totally screwed the pooch after telling the nation that the CIA lied to her. Leon is not happy that America's Nanny lied about the agency he heads just to cover her Ms California butt."
Sweasel - Pretty picture of the Swine Flu
The Other McCain - Why the Keynseians are wrong - "More importantly, the demand-side obsession gets causality backward. Economic growth boosts consumer confidence, not the other way around. Discussion of the consumer "mood" is therefore irrelevant to the project at hand: Developing government policy to promote recovery in the wake of a massive market collapse."
Word Around the Net - Someone shares my complaints about Star Trek - although overall they liked the movie while I felt it was irredeemably ruined by these flaws.
Other Stuff:
Al-Jazeera - Pakistani forces raid Taliban bases - Pakistan's military has launched fresh attacks on suspected Taliban positions in the northwest of the country as thousands more civilians flee the conflict zone.
At least 47 suspected Taliban fighters have been killed in raids by Pakistani forces across the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) in the last 24 hours, the military said on Saturday.
somehow I have the feeling that when we add up all these casualties it's going to be a lot like a vote in Seattle, only instead of more votes than voters we will find that there were more casualties than there were people in SWAT
BBC - Sri Lanka army "defeats rebels" - "The Sri Lankan president has declared a military victory over the Tamil Tigers after 26 years of bloody civil war."
CNN - New search engines aspire to supplement Google - New search engines that are popping up across the Web strive to make searches faster, smarter, more personal and more visually interesting.
Some sites, like Twine and hakia, will try to personalize searches, separating out results you would find interesting, based on your Web use. Others, like Searchme, offer iTunes-like interfaces that let users shuffle through photos and images instead of the standard list of hyperlinks. Kosmix bundles information by type -- from Twitter, from Facebook, from blogs, from the government -- to make it easier to consume.
Dawn - Pakistan presses military offensive as thousands flee - "PESHAWAR: The military Saturday pressed its offensive against Taliban militants in the northwest of the country after tens of thousands more people fled the conflict zone."
Fox News - Pennsylvania Democrats Unsure Whether to Embrace Arlen Specter or Toss Him Back - We don't want him you keep him
France 24 - Sarkozy pledges 12 million euros for Swat valley refugees
LA Times - Panetta fires back at Pelosi on interrogations - The CIA director says agency records show that officials truthfully briefed the House speaker in 2002. He also urges CIA employees to tune out the uproar.
NY Times Books - Two that seem interesting - Weight of a Mustard Seed - "...it’s a relief to read Wendell Steavenson’s “Weight of a Mustard Seed,” a masterly and elegantly told story that weaves together the Iraqi past and present. Her subject is Kamel Sachet, an Iraqi general and war hero who came to despise Hussein, and was finally executed in 1999. Steavenson, a journalist who has written for many English and American publications, set herself a difficult task: Sachet died long before she ever set foot in Iraq. The country began to implode soon after she arrived in 2003, making it even harder to piece together his life. But she succeeds, and makes his story a powerful inquiry into the moral question at the heart of Hussein’s Iraq and so many other dictatorships: Why did people go along with it? Did any resist? And if so, what made them different?
and
Horse Soldiers - In late 2001, small units of elite Special Forces soldiers, working with C.I.A. operatives and Air Force bombers, joined forces with Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance to defeat the country’s ruling Taliban. They didn’t need tanks and 100,000 troops. They rode into battle on horses.
Doug Stanton tells the story of that brief shining moment in “Horse Soldiers,” a rousing, uplifting, Toby Keith-singing piece of work.
NY Times - In Detainee Furor, a Rare Dent in Pelosi Armor
Ex-Governor of Alabama Loses Again in Court - when Karl Rove sets you up you stay set up
Washington Post - No Waterboarding Used in Questioning On Al-Qaeda Ties to Iraq, Officials Say - "Senior intelligence officials yesterday acknowledged that two al-Qaeda operatives, Abu Zubaida and Khalid Sheik Mohammed, had been questioned about alleged links between al-Qaeda and Iraq when the two men underwent CIA interrogation in 2002 and 2003. But the officials denied that the questioning on Iraq had included waterboarding."
Algebra For All: The Push For Higher Math - Educators Are Challenging the Idea That Numerical Ability Must Come Naturally
Friday, May 15, 2009
Around the Moronosphere in 60 Minutes 5/14/09 - More of those wacky Pakistanis and Nancy Pelosi Meltsdown
Doubleplusundead - DUI Lawyers Everywhere Rejoice - 3 out of every 5 lines of code has errors
Economic stimulus by other means? I am sure the lawyers will be making money hand over fist and there should be trickle down
Flopping Aces - “Smoking Gun” Memo Discloses How Global Warming Remedies are Political, NOT Scientific
Just One Minute - A Pelosi vs. CIA summary -
D=S - Limbaugh, Krauthammer & Coulter On Pelosi -
The Other McCain - Another Pelosi Round-up -
Conservatives are having a hell of a time watching Pelosi squirm, but I'm not sure she isn't going to get away with it. She has been a lying partisan hack for years and has slid by with the willing acquiesense of the media, why should they change now. All she has to do is shut up for 5 minutes and stop giving Jon Stewart joke fodder and she will skate.
Other Stuff:
Al- Jazeera - Scores of Taliban die in fighting - At least 124 suspected Taliban fighters have been killed by Pakistani government forces in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) over 24 hours, the military said late on Thursday.
The army shelled suspected Taliban bases in the districts of Swat and Lower Dir on Thursday, marking the 18th successive day of attacks by the military in NWFP.
BBC - Collapse of Western Antarctic Ice Sheet would only raise sea levels 10 feet or so. Not 15 to 20 feet previously projected.
Dawn - US Senate approves emergency aid for Pakistan - "The Senate measure also includes about $900 million in economic and security aid for Pakistan which is battling militant Taliban fighters spilling over its border with Afghanistan. The House bill has about $1 billion for Pakistan.
Fox News - Gitmo Tribunals to Resume - President Obama is expected to announce the administration's decision to restart Bush-era military tribunals for a small number of Guantanamo detainees Friday.
I can hear heads popping already.
and U.S. Has Plan to Secure Pakistan Nukes if Country Falls to Taliban - "The United States has a detailed plan for infiltrating Pakistan and securing its mobile arsenal of nuclear warheads if it appears the country is about to fall under the control of the Taliban, Al Qaeda or other Islamic extremists."
well at least we have a plan. Does President Obama have the will?
US Trying to speed up training of Pak Army - "U.S. officials are in early talks with Pakistani leaders to develop a program that could increase the number of U.S. special operations trainers in that country, with a goal to slash the training time by as much as half for more than 9,000 members of Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps, said a senior defense official.
Training the 14 battalion-size units of the Frontier Corps is expected to take at least four years, but officials would like to both speed up their counterinsurgency training and expand the schooling to the Pakistani Army, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are preliminary and no decisions have been made."
NY Times - Mexican Data Say Migration to U.S. Has Plummeted - "Mexican and American researchers say that the current decline, which has also been manifested in a decrease in arrests along the border, is largely a result of Mexicans’ deciding to delay illegal crossings because of the lack of jobs in the ailing American economy."
Again make it economically unrewarding and the illegal immigration problem will resolve itself.
Health Care Leaders Say Obama Overstated Their Promise to Control Costs - He tends to do that just ask the folks at Catepillar
Yahoo - Bipartisan health consensus emerges - Well this can't possibly be good.
Statistical sampling out in 2010 census - "WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's pick to lead the Census Bureau is ruling out the use of statistical sampling in the 2010 head count, seeking to allay GOP concerns that he might be prone to put politics over science."
Dems find 60 votes isn't enough, those nasty Republicans still want a say and the conservative Dems Chuck Schumer recruited to run in Red states are letting them have it.
"And with contentious fights over health care, climate change and Obama’s first Supreme Court pick ahead, some Democratic senators are now convinced that they can’t wade into some of the hot-button social issues their supporters would like them to pursue.
“They should not take anything for granted,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who as majority whip has the job of counting votes. “People keep saying, ‘Wow, if you get Sen. Franken up in Minnesota, everything is going to be fine — you’ll be at 60.’ I’ve never said that, I know, because I face these senators every day, and I know that each of them has their own mind.”
Their own little versions of Specter, Snowe, and Collins, gotta love it.
blogs, moronosphere, pakistan, taliban, pelosi
Economic stimulus by other means? I am sure the lawyers will be making money hand over fist and there should be trickle down
Flopping Aces - “Smoking Gun” Memo Discloses How Global Warming Remedies are Political, NOT Scientific
Just One Minute - A Pelosi vs. CIA summary -
D=S - Limbaugh, Krauthammer & Coulter On Pelosi -
The Other McCain - Another Pelosi Round-up -
Conservatives are having a hell of a time watching Pelosi squirm, but I'm not sure she isn't going to get away with it. She has been a lying partisan hack for years and has slid by with the willing acquiesense of the media, why should they change now. All she has to do is shut up for 5 minutes and stop giving Jon Stewart joke fodder and she will skate.
Other Stuff:
Al- Jazeera - Scores of Taliban die in fighting - At least 124 suspected Taliban fighters have been killed by Pakistani government forces in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) over 24 hours, the military said late on Thursday.
The army shelled suspected Taliban bases in the districts of Swat and Lower Dir on Thursday, marking the 18th successive day of attacks by the military in NWFP.
BBC - Collapse of Western Antarctic Ice Sheet would only raise sea levels 10 feet or so. Not 15 to 20 feet previously projected.
Dawn - US Senate approves emergency aid for Pakistan - "The Senate measure also includes about $900 million in economic and security aid for Pakistan which is battling militant Taliban fighters spilling over its border with Afghanistan. The House bill has about $1 billion for Pakistan.
Fox News - Gitmo Tribunals to Resume - President Obama is expected to announce the administration's decision to restart Bush-era military tribunals for a small number of Guantanamo detainees Friday.
I can hear heads popping already.
and U.S. Has Plan to Secure Pakistan Nukes if Country Falls to Taliban - "The United States has a detailed plan for infiltrating Pakistan and securing its mobile arsenal of nuclear warheads if it appears the country is about to fall under the control of the Taliban, Al Qaeda or other Islamic extremists."
well at least we have a plan. Does President Obama have the will?
US Trying to speed up training of Pak Army - "U.S. officials are in early talks with Pakistani leaders to develop a program that could increase the number of U.S. special operations trainers in that country, with a goal to slash the training time by as much as half for more than 9,000 members of Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps, said a senior defense official.
Training the 14 battalion-size units of the Frontier Corps is expected to take at least four years, but officials would like to both speed up their counterinsurgency training and expand the schooling to the Pakistani Army, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are preliminary and no decisions have been made."
NY Times - Mexican Data Say Migration to U.S. Has Plummeted - "Mexican and American researchers say that the current decline, which has also been manifested in a decrease in arrests along the border, is largely a result of Mexicans’ deciding to delay illegal crossings because of the lack of jobs in the ailing American economy."
Again make it economically unrewarding and the illegal immigration problem will resolve itself.
Health Care Leaders Say Obama Overstated Their Promise to Control Costs - He tends to do that just ask the folks at Catepillar
Yahoo - Bipartisan health consensus emerges - Well this can't possibly be good.
Statistical sampling out in 2010 census - "WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's pick to lead the Census Bureau is ruling out the use of statistical sampling in the 2010 head count, seeking to allay GOP concerns that he might be prone to put politics over science."
Dems find 60 votes isn't enough, those nasty Republicans still want a say and the conservative Dems Chuck Schumer recruited to run in Red states are letting them have it.
"And with contentious fights over health care, climate change and Obama’s first Supreme Court pick ahead, some Democratic senators are now convinced that they can’t wade into some of the hot-button social issues their supporters would like them to pursue.
“They should not take anything for granted,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who as majority whip has the job of counting votes. “People keep saying, ‘Wow, if you get Sen. Franken up in Minnesota, everything is going to be fine — you’ll be at 60.’ I’ve never said that, I know, because I face these senators every day, and I know that each of them has their own mind.”
Their own little versions of Specter, Snowe, and Collins, gotta love it.
blogs, moronosphere, pakistan, taliban, pelosi
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