Back to School

Well the whole week off between quarters is over today and my first class starts at 0730. Man this blows.

My second FMJRA

1/2 as long as the first.

No Sheeple Here hit me up again last Saturday. She was the only blogger that actually noted the post on the 9/11 Truthers holding their presentation in Seattle tonight without me e-mailing them. Yay!!!!! with that addition my readership swells from 1.5 to two.

Doubleplusundead responded to the e-mail and I got a little movement off that as well so some thanks are owed there too, still I have the feeling I am going to be a lonely voice in a hostile audience.

and that's it so I will close with another Sports by Brooks girl who I suspect was visited by the Silicone Fairy - Anyssa





Note: R.S. McCain is advocating withholding funds from the NRCC in response to the cap and trade vote yesterday. Good start but I still think we need an organized campaign to let the National level GOP know how upset we are.

I am getting a little tired of conservatives / the GOP...

After the global warming - cap and trade vote in the House today Ace posted the following:

Eight Republican Defectors Pass Economy Destroying Bill

Eight votes. Eight.

Bono Mack
Castle
Kirk
Lance
LoBiondo
McHugh
Reichert
Smith (NJ)

Not a dime, not a vote.

Cede these seats to the Democrats.*

As commenters note, of course it's better to displace them through a primary.

I mean, barring that, even if they win the primary -- then give up the seat. It's useless to us anyway.

Most of the comments are the usual - We need a revolution, I'm moving to Texas and hoping it secedes BS. I, along with a couple others, tried to offer some concrete suggestions:

The problem is that just like operation leper and every other throw the bums out campaign that people have advocated since time immemorial no one will follow-up and these same shit-burgers will get re-elected. If you are serious we need to follow Cynthia Yockey's rules.

Ace- if you are serious about wanting these people out then you need to step up and provide some leadership. You have 25,000 plus page views per day put up one of those names every week in a rotating schedule with their Washington and home district contact info. Encourage people to write them at both expressing POLITE displeasure. Also post the address of the RNC so that people can write and make them aware of how unhappy we are with these 8. Let them serve as an object lesson and make sure the RNC knows they wont get a dime until they swear not to support these people in re-election bids. KEEP DOING THIS UNTIL THE ELECTION. It is the only way to get their attention.

Fellow Morons - You have to commit to writing three snail mail letters per week until next November. One to the Rep's DC office one to the home district office and one to the RNC.

Wasted effort - already at comment 369 I can feel the anger dissipating and so once again we will let it slide. I'm tired of it.

Cynthia Yockey continues her fight. The GOP needs to take a lesson.

Smitty at The Other McCain followed up on Cynthia Yockey's efforts to get David Letterman fired on Monday but I was unable to get to it then.

She is continuing in her efforts to get David Letterman fired and I think the GOP can take a lesson from her.

One reason that so many conservative political figures are destroyed is that they set standards for themselves and others. Unfortunately it isn't always possible to live up to the standards you set. Liberals understand this and so they pick and pick until they can find a defect then attack full force. Apologies or pledges to change behavior elicit no mercy and eventually the conservative is forced to remove himself from public life.

Conservatives and the GOP unfortunately are more forgiving / gullible and once the apology is made we tend to move on. That has to cease. Politics has become a war to the knife, and that to the hilt. We are still just looking for first blood and a satisfaction of honor. Street fight vs. Code Duello, or as Yockey said:

Republicans are too willing to take that kind of abuse, Cynthia said, but she comes out of the gay-rights movement, and they don't roll that way.

Sometimes originalism doesn't quite work out the way you'd think

WASHINGTON — Crime laboratory reports may not be used against criminal defendants at trial unless the analysts responsible for creating them give testimony and subject themselves to cross-examination, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a 5-to-4 decision.

...

Four dissenting justices said that scientific evidence should be treated differently than, say, statements from witnesses to a crime. They warned that the decision would subject the nation’s criminal justice system to “a crushing burden” and that it means “guilty defendants will go free, on the most technical grounds.”

...

Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, scoffed at those “back-of-the-envelope calculations.”

In any event, he added, the court is not entitled to ignore even an unwise constitutional command for reasons of convenience.

“The confrontation clause may make the prosecution of criminals more burdensome, but that is equally true of the right to trial by jury and the privilege against self-incrimination,” Justice Scalia wrote.

...

The two justices most closely associated with a commitment to following the original meaning of the Constitution, Justices Scalia and Clarence Thomas, were joined by three members of the court’s liberal wing, Justices John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

In addition to Justice Kennedy, the dissenters included two members of the court’s conservative wing, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., and the remaining liberal, Justice Stephen G. Breyer.

Justice Kennedy said the majority had upended 90 years of settled law from six federal appeals courts and courts in 35 states.

“The court’s holding,” Justice Kennedy wrote, “is a windfall to defendants, one that is unjustified by a demonstrated deficiency in trials, any well-understood historical requirement, or any established constitutional precedent.”

Personally I think that Scalia and Thomas have it right even if it will be burdensome. Crime labs are controlled by and report to the state. That conflict should require that they face confrontation. In fact I would say that because of that relationship courts should view their results with some skepticism. Of course I am not a lawyer so what do I know.

I haven't been following all the news as closely as I should have been the last couple of weeks

I haven't been following all the news as closley as I should have been the last couple of weeks but I saw something over at Instapundit this morning that made me stop and say "Whaaa???"

Ezra wins on points. But here’s the thing: Army hospitals have all the advantages that single-payer advocates love about the VA. They’re unified. There’s no profit incentive–indeed, the doctors are on quite low salaries. They have great incentives for preventive care. They certainly don’t have any profit motive to provide bad care. So why did Walter Reed suck? And what guarantees that the VA is the system we’ll follow, rather than the multiple other dysfunctional government systems everyone hates?

Apparently the VA is now the standard of care in this country while the Military Medical system is looked upon as 3rd or 4th rate. When did this happen?

It wasn't that long ago when the VA was looked upon as the place to send veterans to die. Movies were made about it - Article 99 for one.

From personal experience I know the level of military medical care. I was a patient at Ireland Army Hospital and worked as a Hospital Corpsman at 3 others. As a patient my care was good but I was expected to work. I had to make my own bed and help clean the ward. As a provider we always tried to provide the best care possible and considering a lot of it was provided by 18 or 19 year old guys with a whole 10 weeks of training we did a pretty good job. All the hopsitals I was stationed at passed the JCAHO accreditation process there were issues of course. The hospitals were crowded, long waits for some procedures (a dental cleaning had a waiting list of two years at Nav Hosp. Philly) due to lack of resources, and age, but the quality of care was the best the staff could provide.

Pulled it out

Passed Calc. Yay!!!!!!!

Need to go buy my incredibly expensive programming textbook now.

One day down 364 to go

Finished my first day at Microsoft. Not the most pleasant experience. It took all day to get the computer running correctly and then I did two online courses that relate to work but by that time the day was pretty much shot.

In happier news I got a 3.9 in my programming class. Calc hasn't reported yet but I am not optimistic. For some reason I just can't get my head around derivatives. I may be trying this one again.

Start the new job today

had to fill out a bunch of stupid paperwork for the orientation. Oh well it's money.

I am pretty sure the Department of Defense is testing a retard ray in the Puget Sound area

The area of effect seems to be centered on the Lynnwood Wal-Mart. I don't know what is so hard about navigating a simple parking lot but it is apparently a higher order skill.

The GOP's ACORN?

So last night I made a smart ass comment on facebook about the Iranian election have more votes than voters and asking what's the Farsi word for ACORN. A friend of mine responded with:

***Chris puts on flame proof suit*** I believe its "Mark Anthony Jacoby", although in some dialects it is "Young Political Majors (YPM)".

I had to look this up but apparently the GOP hired a firm named Young Political Majors that is now being investigated in several states for voter registration fraud.

Idiots!!!

As I understand it the way this worked is YPM was paid 7 to 12 dollars per Republican voter registered. To accomplish this YPM would allegedly dupe voters into switching their registration or would just steal a trick from the phone companies and switch them without telling the voter. The owner of the company also falsely registered at an address in order be able to collect signatures. (He pled guilty last Friday).

This makes a good case against paid signature gatherers (as do the ACORN cases) anytime you introduce the profit motive into something like this then people will try and make a profit.

I haven't quite decided how this compares to what ACORN does (registering non existent voters). In a way I think it is worse simply because of the duplicity involved but at the same time from what I have read no fake voters were registered and as far as I know it doesn't actually effect anyone's ability to vote for the candidate they want. In general though if we are going to complain about ACORN then we need to make sure our own hands are clean.

(The LA Times links to the allegation's and Jacoby's guilty plea are down at the moment. If I remember I will post them later)

Emergency Action Alert - 9/11 Truthers Invading Seattle

Townhall Seattle is hosting a presentation that purports to tell the "Truth about 9/11" on Saturday June 27th.

Richard Gage is the founder of Architects and Engineers for 9-11 Truth, a group that believes “the official story of 9-11 is a pack of distortions and lies” and seeks a new, independent investigation of the tragedy. Gage, a practicing architect, will offer a presentation that his organization says will offer “startling visible evidence that what we have been told about 9-11 cannot be true.” A question-and-answer session will follow. Presented by 9-11 Truth Seattle.

I am sure it will be the same semi-scientific BS with just enough credibility to convince the gullible and weak-minded. This just cries out for the audience to be packed with hostile questioners. Hopefully I can arrange something.

Starting work at Microsoft on Monday

Temp gig but it's a job and they were willing to wor around the school schedule so can't beat that. Looks better on the resume too than sitting around for a year.

One final down. On to go

Yay!

Weird Dreams Last Night

I never remember the good dreams where I am rich and successful and married to Angie Harmon only the weird ones like last night.

First off anyone who knows me will tell you I never just let people in my apartment. I finally let my mother in a couple weeks ago and I have lived here since 1999 so when I have a dream that I wake up and there is a prty going on with people just wandering in and out it is weird for me. Not only that but they are using all my computers like it's no big deal with some guy who I don't recognize from real life but in my dream lives in the non existent apartment next door giving hacking lessons. About 5 minutes after kicking him out a very attractive woman who looks like someone from TV that I can't really place is bothering me for a book I supposedly borrowed and while she is distracting me the hacker guy sneaks back in and starts playing a video game on my computer that looks like a cross between Second Life and Doom. This time I kick everybody out and my apartment is cleaner than in real life.

Maybe my dreams are telling me to clean my apartment. I have to admit it could use it. (It actually is one of my projects for the quarter break. Shred all the sensitive paper and make a dump run with the old computers / boxes)

Was The Iranian Election Legit

Ken Ballen and Patrick Doherty writing in the Washington Post argue it may have been:

The election results in Iran may reflect the will of the Iranian people.

...

our nationwide public opinion survey of Iranians three weeks before the vote showed Ahmadinejad leading by a more than 2 to 1 margin -- greater than his actual apparent margin of victory in Friday's election.

...

The only demographic groups in which our survey found Mousavi leading or competitive with Ahmadinejad were university students and graduates, and the highest-income Iranians. When our poll was taken, almost a third of Iranians were also still undecided. Yet the baseline distributions we found then mirror the results reported by the Iranian authorities, indicating the possibility that the vote is not the product of widespread fraud.

Some might argue that the professed support for Ahmadinejad we found simply reflected fearful respondents' reluctance to provide honest answers to pollsters. Yet the integrity of our results is confirmed by the politically risky responses Iranians were willing to give to a host of questions.

On the other hand the Telegraph is reporting that results have been leaked showing Ahmadinejad placed 3rd overall in the results, although the leaked results can't be verified:

Mr Mousavi's cancellation of the protest came as sporadic disturbances continued around the Iranian capital, and reports circulated of leaked interior ministry statistics showing him as the clear victor in last Friday's polls.

The statistics, circulated on Iranian blogs and websites, claimed Mr Mousavi had won 19.1 million votes while Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won only 5.7 million.

The two other candidates, reformist Mehdi Karoubi and hardliner Mohsen Rezai, won 13.4 million and 3.7 million respectively. The authenticity of the leaked figures could not be confirmed.

Either way it's a mess.

Supreme Leader Calls For Investigation of Possible Iranian Election Fraud

Just heard it on Fox News. Kind of a fox guarding the hen house sort of thing but I guess it shows that the mullahs are worried about the anger in the streets.

Last night the call went out for medical help on twitter. It came from students(?) holed up at Tehran University. The way I understood it they were looking for some online help in treating injuries sustained in the protests so I volunteered to do what I could but no details ever came through. After a bit I clicked over to the originating feed and it read something like "Been up 48 hours class tomorrow going to bed" so I am not sure exactly what is going on.

As I type Fox News (Megyn Kelly (mmmmm Megyn Kelly)) is reporting that all electronic communication is being shut down in Iran and that foreign journalists are being told to get out of the country. Not a good sign. As I said on Ace of Spades last night it seems to me that this is either going to be drawn out and bloody or short and extremely bloody. I think the government is opting for the extremely bloody option.

Why life should have theme music

How cool would it be to have this playing while you walk down the street



Of course mine would probably be more like this



or this

15 Quick Fixes Make The World Better

That's what the July /August issue of "the Atlantic" offers or at least claims to offer. Some of the fixes are stupid - Redesign the dollar, End the Vice Presidency, and Pay the artists in my opinion, but most deserve some serious consideration.

Among them:

Rent your own home - Require or strongly encourage banks to banks to allow the current resident to remain in recently foreclosed homes as long as they remain current in fair market rent. The goal is to stop an artificial race to the bottom of home prices.

Privatize the seas - Improve fishery management by auctioning off permits that can be used year round instead of having short open seasons. The concept has already been proven in Alaska's halibut fisheries as well as in Australia and New Zealand and a study by the University of California has shown that fisheries privatized in this manner are much less prone to collapse. (Normally I would link to this study rather than accepting the articles word for it but I can't find it. I have heard the results reported on BBC and I believe CNN previously however)

End all taxes except the property tax and End the corporate income tax - Instead of punishing success by taxing it while rewarding people who happend to buy land in the right place at the right time reverse the formula. Only tax property while eliminating the income tax. If taxes are to remain then stop punishing job creators (corporations) and tax those who recieve the benefits. Different takes on the same issue. Both are worth consideration. According to the author of the property tax proposal Milton Friedman was an advocate of such an approach.

I'll let you read the rest of the suggestions for yourself. Amazingly Andrew Sullivan's suggestion for immediate disclosure of Trig Palin's birth records didn't make the cut in this article. Maybe there is hope for the world after all.

My first full fledged FMJRA saturday

I have been slacking on rule 2 (R. S. McCain's Rule 2 not Alinsky's) a bit because all my incoming links have been a result of me originally linking to other blogs likeThe Other McCain rather than people linking for my brilliant insights and witty repartee. (and let me be clear I am OK with that not only am I a link whore I am the $0.25 crack whore of link whores.). This week However I have been surprised twice -
First Becky over at Just a Girl in Short Shorts linked me in a complimentary fashion in her post about open minded conservatives. Then No Sheeples Here gave me linakge for "With great mustache comes great responsibility". That "dude" on the end of the No Sheeples post makes me think they don't understand just how great the responsibility is though so I have included this visual aid:



actually Technorati shows I have been a little more remiss than I thought. I also owe very old shout-outs to Blue Collar Republican and theblogprof
. Sorry I missed you earlier guys. Sometimes Technorati doesn't make it easy.

Going Alinsky On Letterman

Letterman stepped in it this week. His jokes about the Palin family have lit up the dextrosphere and as near as I can tell people are still angry as hell about them.

That's good because it gives the conservative right a chance to steal from the Obama playbook and go Alinsky on Letterman.

This seems perfect for a little Rule 1, 3, and 12 combined action:

Cynthia Yockey - A newly conservative lesbian - has some suggestions:

1. Be tenacious


• The campaign must last at least 30 days anything less and CBS will try and wait it out


2. The campaign must target not only CBS but the advertisers too


• Not just the main office but the Executive suite of the advertisers. CEO, CFO, COO
• I would also recommend calling local franchises and telling them you won't be eating there as long as they advertise on Letterman and filling out comment cards where applicable


3. Realize that Letterman is an opportunity for empowerment


• It gets boring sending out these letters day after day, but the upside is, if the campaign is successful, conservatives will be looked at with a little bit more respect (or fear which can be just as useful ask Al Sharpton) by CBS et.al.

If you are interested the here is a list of Letterman's advertisers:

Mars Candy
Mars North America
100 International Drive
Mount Olive, NJ 07828
Tel: 1 973 691 3536 [Media],
1 800 627 7852 [Consumers]
Fax:1 973 691 3829
http://www.mars.com/global/News+and+Media/Media+Contacts.htm
email - form - http://www.mars.com/global/Contact+us/Media+contacts+North+America.htm

Best Western
Best Western International, Inc.
Customer Relations Department
Telephone: 1-800-528-1238
Fax: 623-780-6199
Email: customerservice@bestwestern.com
Regular Mail: PO Box 10203
Phoenix, AZ 85064
Attn: Customer Service

Capital One
Capital One Financial Corporation 1
680 Capital One Drive McLean, VA 22102
1/703-720-1000

On The Border Restaurants
Brinker International
6820 LBJ Freeway
Dallas, TX 75240
(972) 980-9917
Contact at:
http://www.ontheborder.com/contact/contact.asp
Phone:1-800-983-4637

Intel - Website contact page: http://www.intel.com/feedback.htm?iid=ftr+contact
Corporate Mailing Address
2200 Mission College Blvd.
Santa Clara, CA 95054-1549
USA
(408) 765-8080

JohnFreida.com - Contact page: http://www.johnfrieda.com/event.asp?action=entry&EventCode=jfcontact
Consumer Relations Dept
Kao Brands Company
2535 Spring Grove Ave
Cincinnati, OH 45214
Phone - 1-800-521-3189

DiTech - Not sure if this is Ditech financial , or Ditech networks and don’t know if they are one and the same.

Lexus
P.O. Box 2991 - Mail Drop L201
Torrance, CA 90509-2991
http://www.lexus.com/contact/ (Go to this page and click the “e-mail” button
Phone: 1-800-255-3987
TTY/TTD Users: 1-800-443-4999
Fax: 1-310-468-2992
Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 9 p.m., EST
Saturday, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m., EST

Earn My Degree
WCS
157 Yesler Way Suite 200
Seattle WA
United States 98121
206-812-4653
information@worldclassstrategy.com

Bowflex -Nautilus, Inc.
Global Headquarters
16400 SE Nautilus Drive
Vancouver, WA 98683
1 360 859 2900
PublicRelations@nautilus.com
Contact page- http://www.bowflexrevolution.com/nautilus_incorporated/contactus.jsp?lid=Contact+Us+-+ContactUs

LasikPlus
7840 Montgomery Road
Cincinnati OH 45236
Telephone: 513-792-9292
Toll-Free: 800-688-4550
Fax: 513-792-5620
Email: bkise@lca.com
Contact page- http://www.lasikplus.com/ir/contacts.html

EBay
eBay Inc.
2145 Hamilton Avenue
San Jose, CA 95125
Media relations - (408) 376-7458
Contact page - http://news.ebay.com/about.cfm

True Credit
TrueCredit
100 Cross Street, Suite 202
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
866-212-2170 (only contact number 2012 Draft Sarah Committee could find)

CBSports.com - Contact page: http://www.cbssports.com/help/contactus/usersspeak
Headquarters
2200 West Cypress Creek Road
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309
Phone: (954) 351-2120

(list was blatantly stolen from Cynthia Yockey)

Sebastian Gray at Hillbuzz has a lot more, and it's worth the read.

Looking for something profound to say

but all I can come up with is "With great mustache comes great responsibility" and "Beer the cause of and solution to all life's problems", and I stole those from the Family Guy and The Simpsons respectively.

I am sitting in the Tully's coffee down on Alki Beach, one of the places I go to some studying - too many distractions in my apartment, and I took a break to read the news.

Big mistake - Just too damn depressing.

So then I decided to look out the window at the girls jogging by (and some of them are sohot it hurts to watch) and now I don't want to get back to studying. Damn you good looking female joggers. If I fail my calculus class it is your fault. (OK it will really be my fault, but much like Obama with the economy I figure I can shift blame. He has Bush I have joggers with big boobs)

Still a little tight on time so the Moronopshere updates are on hold for at least the next week.

Well I suppose I should go. I need to pickup some black ink for my printer and get back to anti-derivatives and possibly fill out some college applications.

My first choice is still UW Bothell followed by UW Tacoma but I am also applying at Montana State, Minot State and Western Washington I think. With that spread I should be able to transfer somewhere. I dont really want to move back to Montana or North Dakota (especially North Dakota) but you dowhat you have too.

Obama scales back plans after visit to Denny's

Obama Drastically Scales Back Goals For America After Visiting Denny's

How is that stimulus package working out?

via Instapundit

Around the Moronosphere 6/6.09

Holding pattern and explanation- It has been a busy week here. I have finals coming up so I am on a study for an hour, do other stuff for an hour, study for an hour, do other stuff for an hour schedule. I also have had to meet with my academic adviser, go to a job interview, meet former co-workers for lunch and try to enjoy the limited run of hot sunny weather here in Seattle. Needless to say my time has been consumed. I will get back on track this weekend hopefully. In the meantime thanks for the patience.

had my interview

seemed to go ok. My days of just sitting in the sun may be over :-(

The new Star Wars MMO

I think I wet myself a bit

Just back from an advising appointment

Had my adviser take a look at all my various transcripts. Much closer to a degree than I thought. However as far as transferring into the actual program that I want I actually just found out about a statistics class I have to take. That is going to require some juggling but I will work it out.

Another great day in Seattle

0530 and it's 64 degrees out.

Love it.

Got an interview for a contract testing position over at Microsoft

Not sure what position or group it is in but I will find out Friday.

Access to a Wal-Mart leads to less obesity

One might think that "everyday low prices" for food would mean that people would eat much more--stuff themselves, even. So one would expect to see more obese folks in places where Wal-Mart does more business. Right? Think again. Research tells a different story.

The University of North Carolina-Greensboro's Charles Courtemanche and I are finishing a study of big retail stores and obesity. In our first round of statistical analysis we found that greater consumer access to a Wal-Mart ( WMT - news - people ) store was associated with lower body-mass indexes and a lower probability of being obese.

source

The researchers identified two causes - a change in the price of healthy food vs. unhealthy food:

The first is the substitution effect: a change in consumption mix due to a change in relative prices. If a bag of salad is $2 and a bag of potato chips is $1, then the price of salad in terms of chips is two bags and the price of a bag of chips is half a bag of salad. If a Wal-Mart opens and reduces the price of salad to $1 a bag and the price of chips to 75 cents a bag, the "salad price" of chips has risen (from 1TK2 bag to 3TK4 bag) and the "chip price" of salad has fallen from 2 bags to 4TK3 bags. In short, salad has become cheaper relative to chips.

and a change in purchasing power due to lower prices. The researchers have concluded the second reason is the primary driver of the effect.

Just another example of the law of unintended consequences. It's just that in this rare case the consequences are desirable.

h/t instapundit

2009 GOP Party Census

I was of course delighted to learn that I had been selected as part of a select group to help the Republican party develop a blueprint - a plan of action as it were - to grow the ranks of the GOP, educate voters and recruit great candidates to reflect our principles and turn out a winning vote on election day.

With this in mind it was with trembling hands that I filled out the questionnaire making sure that I gave each of the 25 highly detailed questions my full thought and attention. This could potentially effect national policy after all so when I was asked "Should we fight military-cutting efforts in Congress, such as the proposal from liberal Barney Franks to slash the Pentagon budget by 25%" I made sure to read every bit of the Republican plan (none) before carefully selecting Yes from the the possible selections of Yes, No and Undecided.

I went thru each question in the same laborious manner until I came to this one

"Will you join the Republican National Committee by making a contribution today?

Yes (check an ammount)

Yes I support the RNC, but I am unable to participate at this time. However I have enclosed $12 to cover the cost of tabulating my survey

No I favor electing liberal democrats over the next 10 years.

What the hell I thought I was a member of a select group they should be paying me for filling out their stupid (fake) survey. Not only that but they want me to dilute the exclusivity of the group. There is a note that a $100 donation will pay to mail 238 more census documents to registered Republicans. Why should I pay to let a bunch more slack jawed mouth breathers dilute my opinion. My slack jawed mouth breathing should be enough for them. That's like asking your girlfriend for money to pay a hooker.

I left that section blank and mailed it back anyway. Eat the postage jerks!

Around the Moronosphere 6/2/09

Uneasy Silence - Tip of the day: How To Shave Your Private Parts?? - Grooming tips from Gillette I could probably live without

Betsy - Some realism on ethanol - A second study -- by the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Transportation and Air Quality -- explains that the reduction in CO2 emissions from burning ethanol are minimal and maybe negative.

Realism doesn't matter as long as it makes you feel like you are doing something. Just like stem cells.

Flopping Aces -

InstaPundit - THE TALIBAN abduct up to hundreds of students in Pakistan. - Not just any students but students from a nearby local college. The Wanda Kessler School of Beauty. (Cheap Real Genius reference) The original article wasn't real clear on details but it appears that the students were cadets at a military school so I think we can guess the reason for the kidnappings.

Michelle Malkin - “ACORN is a criminal enterprise” - These are the five simple words that every conservative candidate officeholder should be repeating often and loudly.

It’s about the fraud. It’s about the coordinated corruption. It’s about the effect on housing, the economy, and the entire electoral landscape.

In a lot of ways ACORN is the new boogie man but there have been enough substantiated cases of voter fraud that it is time for the Department of Justice to take a serious look at their operations

Slashdot - The Perils of Pop Philosophy - "This brings us around to some of my longstanding ambivalence about blogging and journalism more generally. On the one hand, while it's probably not enormously important whether most people have a handle on the mind-body problem, a democracy can't make ethics and political philosophy the exclusive province of cloistered academics. On the other hand, I look at the online public sphere and too often tend to find myself thinking: 'Discourse at this level can't possibly accomplish anything beyond giving people some simulation of justification for what they wanted to believe in the first place.' This is, needless to say, not a problem limited to philosophy."

The echo chamber effect. You only listen to and read people you agree with and it reinforces your own opinion. I have to admit that I am not immune although I do make a conscious effort to overcome it. That is one reason I insist on reading source material myself instead of letting O'Reilly, Beck, Limbaugh, and Malkin do it for me. Chances are I will agree with them to at least a certain extent, but it is intellectually dishonest to base my arguments on their interpretations of what a document says. (and no this is not a slam at any of the four mentioned individuals who are all talented enough to have risen to the top of their professions. It is a slam at letting them do our work)

The Belmont Club - The Perils of Facebook

Bring the Heat Bring the Stupid - Load HEAT (Scarlett Johannsen)

Cold Fury - Keeping the "Dealergate" dream alive - Few doubt that Zero Hedge is among the finest quant blogs on the planet. Its amazing work in analyzing the relationships between campaign contributions and Chrysler dealership closings resulted in a stunning conclusion: “a noticeable and highly positive correlation between dealer survival and Clinton donors” (87% confidence interval).

From my understanding a 95% confidence interval is usually the gold standard on determining relevance but I honestly don't know enough statistics to comment on the methods or conclusions.

The Other McCain - Romney: Obama of the Right - "let me clarify: the BHO comparison is not about experience. Romney certainly has plenty. The comparison is about the stylishness of the presentation, at some cost to substance. I thought Romney delivered an excellent speech at CPAC. I'd like to hear him discuss, in detail, the fallout of his healthcare initiative in the Bay State."

I didn't see Romney's CPAC speech and I wasn't a Romney supporter last year. Smitty talks about stylishness at the cost of substance. That is visible in the video linked at Smitty's post. I also just have trouble resolving his statements on issues like the second amendment with my own views

Other Stuff:

BBC - Hopes high for Obama's Islam speech - The third paragraph is Bush bashing at it's best. gotta love it

Yahoo - Obama, in Europe, must show diplomatic style works - WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama makes a second foray into European diplomacy this week facing pressure to demonstrate his consensus-building foreign policy can produce results where his predecessor George W. Bush's go-it-alone style failed.

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When he ran for president last year, Obama argued Bush's diplomacy had alienated U.S. friends abroad and promised to deliver international backing for U.S. initiatives by listening to allies rather than dictating to them.

The results so far are inconclusive.

Cheney on gay marriage: "Freedom for everyone" - WASHINGTON – Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday he supports gays being able to marry but believes states, not the federal government, should make the decision.

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"And I think that's the way it ought to be handled today, that is, on a state-by-state basis. Different states will make different decisions. But I don't have any problem with that. I think people ought to get a shot at that," he said.

But, I don't understand... He's evil incarnate how can he support gay marriage. My worldview is destroyed /sarcasm

Finally got my Comcast internet working again

What a difference between 768K and 6M download speeds

Around the Moronosphere 6/1/09

Betsy - Another problematic case for Sotomayor - The Washington Times highlights another issue that should come up in Sotomayor's confirmation hearings. She was in the minority arguing on the appeals court that New York's law barring imprisoned felons from voting violated the Voting Rights Act.

In Hayden v. Pataki, a number of inmates in New York state filed suit claiming that because blacks and Latinos make up a disproportionate share of the prison population, the state's refusal to allow them ballot access amounts to an unlawful, race-based denial of their right to vote. Eight of 13 judges on the liberal-leaning Second Circuit dismissed their arguments, and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled likewise in a similar case.

Yet, operating on a dubious and extremely broad reading of the Voting Rights Act, Ms. Sotomayor dissented from the decision. In a remarkably dismissive, four-paragraph opinion, she alleged that the "plain terms" of the Voting Rights Act would allow such race-based claims to go forward.

She does seem to show a predilection for such race-based claims, doesn't she? The only problem is the plain wording of the 14th Amendment as Jose Cabranes argued in the majority opinion.

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This is in accord with her approach to the New Haven firefighters case where she seemed to buy the argument that the fact that no African American passed the promotion test was de facto evidence that the test was biased. As Stuart Taylor wrote she is from the school that looks at disparate impact as the sole evidence we need for detecting discrimination.

Tom Goldstein at SCOTUSBlog has looked at Sotomayor's record on discrimination claims and come to a different opinion.

I am not thrilled with the Sotomayor nomination (who on the political right is?) but at the moment I am not seeing where she is any worse than Souter. The "wise latina" quote is troubling especially given that it was a prepared remark but I think that is a slim reed to hang a claim of racial bigotry on. I am actually more concerned by the embellishment of her early personal life, but I am not sure who was responsible for that - her, the administration, or the press - if it is her then it indicates a fundamental dishonesty that should see her disqualified.

Patterico - L.A. Times Sends Embarrassing Quote Down the Memory Hole - They got caught misrepresenting something John Cornyn said and now they don't want to fess up. Unlike "1984" however it is legal for citizen's to keep archive copies of newspapers and Patterico used his to call them on it.

Support Your Local Gunfighter - Saudis Behead, Crucify Molester/Murderer - Took a while but I finally found something cheerful this morning. I have to admit that today's Dilbert made me smile too.

Other Stuff:

Not talking about the Tiller murder here other than to say it was wrong. More discussion just detracts from that.

Al-Jazeera - Iraqi Kurds begin oil exports - Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region has begun exporting oil to international markets for the first time, despite disagreements with Iraq's central government.

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Baghdad has for months called the Kurdish move to export oil illegal because the deal was struck independently of the central government.

But Al Jazeera's correspondent Hoda Abdel Hamid said the government has now"quietly given the Kurds the green light for these oil exports", essentially because it needs the money the commodity will bring.

Billings Gazette - Co-ops worry about costs of cap-and-trade approach - Worried about rising utility costs, Montana's electric cooperatives are nervously watching congressional work on climate change laws.

Cooperatives serve roughly 250,000 Montana homes and businesses and rely on coal power, which they fear will become extremely expensive under proposed greenhouse gas caps and pay-to-pollute policies.

Elections have consequences dummies

CNN - GOP lawmakers: Sotomayor filibuster unlikely - WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Leading Senate Republicans indicated Sunday that a filibuster on Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court is unlikely, though they also promised not to shy away from what they characterized as a troubling judicial record.

That's the right approach if you ask me

DAWN- US drone strikes hit ‘high-value’ Al-Qaeda targets - WASHINGTON: US missiles from unmanned drones have eliminated about half of 20 'high-value' Al-Qaeda and other extremist targets along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, The Washington Post reported Monday.

There is also a ton of news on the offensive against that Taliban, too much to link here. Hit the mainpage

Yahoo - Data fuel recovery hopes - BEIJING/LONDON (Reuters) – Manufacturing from China to Europe is showing signs of improvement, suggesting the global economy may be over the worst of a recession despite U.S. carmaker General Motors filing for bankruptcy protection.

Washington Post - 46 States, D.C. Plan to Draft Common Education Standards - The push for common reading and math standards marks a turning point in a movement to judge U.S. children using one yardstick that reflects expectations set for students in countries around the world at a time of global competition. Today, each state decides what to teach in third-grade reading, fifth-grade math and every other class. Critics think some set a bar so that students can pass tests but, ultimately, are ill-prepared.

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The nearly complete support of governors for the effort -- leaders in Texas, Alaska, Missouri and South Carolina are the only ones that have not signed on -- is key. Many Republicans oppose nationally mandated standards, saying schools should not be controlled by Washington. But there is broad support for a voluntary effort that bubbles up from the states.

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The governors and schools chiefs have set an ambitious agenda. By July, groups of experts already at work are expected to unveil "readiness standards" for high school graduates in reading and math, Wilhoit said. Then, with each grade considered a steppingstone toward that goal, they will set out the skills students must master each year to stay on track.

It's about time