Saturday, June 14, 2008

I Had A Horrible Feeling it was going to end like this

From CBC
The mother of Karissa Boudreau, a 12-year-old girl whose body was found near Bridgewater, N.S., last February, has been charged with first-degree murder in her daughter's death, police said Saturday.

Police in Nova Scotia arrested Penny Boudreau, 33, on Friday.

At a news conference by the RCMP and Bridgewater police on Saturday, investigators provided a brief statement and would only say they do not expect to lay any other charges.


From the Bureau Of Justice Statistics. Most teens are killed by someone they know.

Shakira - Hips Don't Lie


Sigh

[hey all the posts cant be about serious subjects]

National Day Of Mourning at Daily Kos

Give me a break
But I never thought the Senator would be quite so tasteless as to compare being on Meet the Press to facing interrogation in a prison camp...while eulogizing a Washington icon just hours after he passed, at a time when the nation was still in shock, still in mourning for one of its most prominent journalists.

...snip...

But Russert just died.

...snip ...

Apparently, this national occasion of mourning deserves the same level of consideration as a baseball game.

...snip

But yesterday was about eulogizing Tim Russert, and this self-promoting reference is truly egregious and supremely tasteless.

Tim Russert deserves better at your hands.

I mean come on... Tim Russert was a journalist that was nearly universally despised on the liberal side of the blogosphere and it is just pathetic to be so over the top about his death.

McCain on Habeas Corpus

Via Swampland
"The United States Supreme Court yesterday rendered a decision which I think is one of the worst decisions in the history of this country," McCain said. He went on to quote from Justice Roberts dissent in the case, rail against "unaccountable judges," and say that the courts are about to be clogged with cases from detainees.


Yes, goodness knows that we dont want little things like due process to get in the way of the showtrials.

I am sorry, but an attitude like this completely disqualifies John McCain from being President. Remember what the oath he swears is ...
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

What an asshole.

On GOP Prospects

From DailyKos
A reminder: McCain didn't win the GOP primary, people like Giuliani lost. This was the best Republicans had to offer. And because the Republican brand of Tom DeLay, Larry Craig, Mark Foley and Rudy Giuliani still hasn't cleaned house, they get to be almost as big an anvil around John McCain's neck as George W. Bush and the Iraq war. That's why they are in such deep trouble now.
Precisely

On Michelle Obama

From AngryAfrican
Give me Michelle Obama anytime. Because at least she knows why she is proud. That it isn’t an empty word or a little flag you hang on your jacket. That it is hard work. And straight talking. It might be Kool-Aid. But it tastes just damn fine.
Pretty much sums up my thinking on the matter.

More NoQuarter Stupidity

The headline is
‘Whitey’ Source Revealed?


However the article .. in its entirety is ..
The Barack Obama truth squad is making a frantic effort to quash the rumor that there is a videotape in which Michelle Obama rants about “Whitey.” Michelle herself reportedly was “shocked and frustrated” when campaign staff repeatedly asked her about the tape, and told aides that…

“whitey” is simply not a word that African Americans of her generation tend to use — or that she herself would ever say.

But today, in an outstanding piece of investigative journalism, bloggers Bud White and Medusa reveal information that lends credibility to the existence of the Whitey tape. They explain how Michelle Obama’s value system is deeply rooted in the black separatist teachings of Stokely Carmichael. In their No Quarter story, Michelle Obama Off Tape, the authors write:

Stokely Carmichael guided Michelle Obama’s thesis on race? This is very important. Carmichael was not a mainstream academic source in his times. He was not the Henry Louis Gates, Jr. of the 1960s, writing scholarly, brilliant works on black America. In fact, Carmichael, the Honorary Prime Minister of the Black Panther Party, espoused a violent black separatist philosophy which was diametrically opposed to Dr. King’s and the Civil Rights Movement’s struggle for integration and equality.

In his 1966 article entitled What We Want, in the New York Review of Books, Stokely Carmichael wrote, “about plots to ‘get Whitey‘” saying that “Black people don’t want to ‘get whitey,’” and in a 1969 article entitled Toward Black Liberation, Carmichael talks about racial incidents as “Git Whitey” “sensationalism.”

The No Quarter story should be read in full for its in-depth analysis of Michelle Obama’s college thesis on race and the radical philosophy to which she espouses. It’s no wonder that the Obamas joined Trinity United, grew close to Jeremiah Wright and Michael Pfleger, and actively defended the church. And there is no doubt in this alert reader’s mind that Michelle Obama clung to Trinity as long as possible politically and, unfortunately for her husband, perhaps many years too long for most voters’ palates.

Bud White’s and Medusa’s work is important because it not only exposes Michelle Obama’s extreme views on race, but because it provides supplemental evidence of Larry Johnson’s consistent reports about the “Whitey” tape. They have revealed a likely source for Michelle Obama’s use of the term “Whitey,” i.e., Michelle’s mentor Carmichael.

Their story also makes me even more determined to do whatever it takes to keep this “value system” from running the White House, governing the country, and leading the free world.


I am sorry but if you have to pull 40 year old Stokely Carmichael quotes then you are REALLY reaching. On top of that, I suggest that some of the folks that think that life was wonderful if you were an american that wasn't white in the 50's and 60's should get a fucking clue.

Oh, one more thing ... I find it difficult to picture that Fr Michael Pfleger (not at Trinity btw .. he is a catholic priest.. Trinity is UCC) is a radical black separatist .. since .... he is .. umm .. how do i say this .. white

The stupidity ... it burns

Oh, and for anyone that says that I shouldn't have quoted the whole article ... I only did it to show that, as usual, that bunch at NoQuarter are just wanking

Tim Russert

This is about right
Tim Russert conducted 15-30 minute interviews with important Washington politicians. He wasn’t, in my opinion, a particularly good interviewer, or a particularly tough one. He had a trick, which was he would look for quotations from a persons’ past which he felt were inconsistent with a more recent quotation, and confront them with that. This wasn’t necessarily a good or a bad trick to pull in an interview - it depends how you pull it off, and Russert’s results varied. His approach was generally deferential to the more prestigious players - accommodating, helpful even. He frequently came off as uninformed and - apart from the gotcha quote - ill-prepared. He never struck me as being particularly concerned about the effects of Washington politics, of the work of the people he interviewed, outside of a very select cohort of politicians and pundits, and how people in Buffalo, NY would perceive them. His work product was closer to Ryan Seacrest’s than William Shirer’s. He wasn’t the worst journalist/pundit in the country - I doubt he’d crack the top 1,000, the competition being what it is - but he also didn’t serve the public particularly well. These are all my subjective opinions, same as when he was alive.

I know, I know .. don't talk ill of the dead but ... Timmeh really was a terrible journalist and the fact that he has died far too young doesn't change the damage that he and others of his sort have done to our national discourse.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Larry Johnson -- Pied Piper of Wingnuttia

How can someone say these things in consecutive posts and think that any sane person can take them seriously...
NoQuarter remains a blog committed to electing Hillary Clinton as President. Until the Democrats meet in Denver and actually vote for the “Golden Child” there still exists the chance, albeit remote, that Hillary could secure the nomination. Even though Hillary won the majority of votes cast (and don’t tell me about the ESTIMATED votes that Barack would have received in caucus events), the Democrats want to go into the fall election with a candidate who failed to win Florida, California, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Texas.

I am certain of one thing–there is an enormous reservoir of resentment over how Hillary Clinton has been insulted and abused by the Obama campaign and principles in the Democratic National Committee. This blog has become a refugee site of sorts for those folks. Many of them are women disgusted by the misogynistic, sexist attacks on Hillary. Ladies, we feel your pain and we agree.

and then in the very next post ...
A big shout out to Ed Morrissey at Hot Air. He was the first, best I can determine, to expose the latest Barack hypocrisy.

Hot Air is Michelle Malkin's spot. Yeah, great unbiased source for information there Larry. What is next .. Redstate? Little Green Footballs? Free Republic?

I hope that the people that are following Larry Johnson realize that they are being led into wingnut land...

Please note that the links are to searches for "hillary clinton" on each of those sites. I humbly suggest that any Hillary Clinton supporter that thinks those are your allies needs to get a tighter fucking grip on reality.

Happy Birthday DB2

I am, by profession, an Oracle database geek. Despite that, I thought that I would offer a happy 25th birthday wish to IBM's flagship database, DB2.

via eweek

Studies in misleading studies

From CNN
A report from the office last month found that a teenager who has been depressed in the past year was more than twice as likely to have used marijuana than teenagers who have not reported being depressed -- 25 percent compared with 12 percent. The study said marijuana use increased the risk of developing mental disorders by 40 percent.
Other than the fact that correlation does not equal causation...

"The increases in marijuana potency are of concern since they increase the likelihood of acute toxicity, including mental impairment," said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which funded the University of Mississippi study.
Let's just be clear that she is talking about "marijuana overdose". Has anyone every seen a single instance of this?

"Particularly worrisome is the possibility that the more potent THC might be more effective at triggering the changes in the brain that can lead to addiction," Volkow said.

When the words possibility, might and can are strung together it is amazing the conclusions that you can lead to ...

"I think that it is worrisome that there is a possibility that spouting propaganda for the Bush Administration might make a scientist look like a hack and can lead to ridicule by their peers"

But there's no data showing that a higher potency in marijuana leads to more addiction, Earleywine said, and marijuana's withdrawal symptoms are mild at best. "Mild irritability, craving for marijuana and decreased appetite -- I mean those are laughable when you talk about withdrawal from a drug. Caffeine is worse."

Bush Invades Pakistan

No, not really. But considering the bullshit that flowed when Obama said that he would go after Osama with or without the permission of the Pakistani government I just couldn't resist the headline.

Michelle Malkin and Fox News --Douchebags of a Feather Flock Together

Nice to see the racists are coming out of the woodwork early. I have to say that it is always baffling to me when someone that is a member of a visible minority is a racist douchebag. But I guess I really shouldn't be. After all, we now have a a race between a rich, inarticulate, bumbling, old white guy and a young, charismatic, self-made, vibrant man of colour. That means that all of the self-hating wingnuts of colour will be brought out of the closet to call the names that The Maverick would not be able to say without being spit on in the street. How long will it be until we have a surrogate (non-official of course) call Barack Obama a n***** on national TV? I am betting that it happens by the end of the summer although a commenter at Sadly, No is guessing by the end of June. Jesus I hope I am wrong but I am afraid that this is going to get ugly. via Sadly, No and others

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Smartest Blog Comment of the day

From the often insightful jayackroyd commenting at Swampland
A goal of Obama's and the Democrats should be to reframe health care as an infrastructure issue.

When Comment Threads Go Awry

From CBC comes a little story about a Bible with a typo and a link to Nova Scotia History
A famous Bible with a typographical error has made its way back to Nova Scotia after almost 300 years.

The "Vinegar Bible," so called because it contains a typographical error, substituting vinegar for vineyard in the Gospel of Luke, was unveiled at St. John's Anglican Church in Lunenburg, N.S., on Sunday.

Printed in 1717 by John Baskett, this particular Bible — one of three with the typo — is older than Halifax.

It was first brought to Lunenburg in the mid 1700s by a missionary, and was later bought by Nova Scotia politician and businessman Michael Francklin (1733-1782). It made its way back to England with Francklin in 1772, and while Francklin had it, he wrote 18 pages of handwritten notes in the book.

"For a historian, it's extremely exciting," said church historian George Munroe.

Now, the entertaining part of the story .. is the comments on it ...
Oh, just go read ... really ... it is amusing

The Stupidest Employer Award goes to Dan Hilliard

From CBC
A 36-year-old waitress at an Owen Sound, Ont., restaurant lost her job this week after she shaved her head to raise money for a cancer charity.

Stacey Fearnall raised more than $2,700 for the charity Cops for Cancer, a local fundraiser for cancer research.

Then the 36-year-old waitress at Nathaniels restaurant was laid off when she showed up for work earlier this week with her newly shorn look.

...snip...

She said she told her bosses what she was planning to do, but when she arrived at work at the restaurant practically bald, she said they sent her home and told her she wasn't welcome back.

"'We'll call it a layoff.' That's what he said," Fearnall said her boss told her. "'Spend the summer with your kids.' I call it losing my job."

Nathaniels owner and chef Dan Hilliard issued a statement late Thursday saying Fearnall did not advise him that she was planning to shave her head.


Followed up by ...
In a written statement, Hilliard offered a qualified apology to Fearnall, the Canadian Cancer Society and the general public, which reacted furiously to the decision to send the civic-minded waitress home.

Hilliard said he was sorry for "failing to resolve the issue" before Fearnall contacted the media, and he called her an "excellent" employee.

The statement, which insisted Fearnall wasn't fired, said the public outcry has been devastating to the restaurant and has upset the other employees.

Hilliard said he would encourage staff to support various charities — including the Canadian Cancer Society. He could not be immediately reached for comment Monday, and the restaurant remained closed.

A voice-mail message thanked patrons for "their understanding."

Fearnall said the furor over her treatment has had one positive effect.

"The best thing to come out of it is there's been another $2,000 in donations for the Canadian Cancer Society," she said. "That was the original intent, so that is great."


How about this for an apology instead ...

Dan Hilliard: I fucked up. I really fucked up. Fuck was I stupid. I am sorry to everyone involved in this mess. Please forgive me.

I bet that someone could get a good deal on a restaurant in Owen Sound right about now...

Import Certificates

Warren Buffett has a rather interesting idea for fixing the balance of trade problem in the USA.
We would achieve this balance by issuing what I will call Import Certificates (ICs) to all U.S. exporters in an amount equal to the dollar value of their exports. Each exporter would, in turn, sell the ICs to parties -- either exporters abroad or importers here -- wanting to get goods into the U.S. To import $1 million of goods, for example, an importer would need ICs that were the byproduct of $1 million of exports. The inevitable result: trade balance.

Because our exports total about $80 billion a month, ICs would be issued in huge, equivalent quantities -- that is, 80 billion certificates a month -- and would surely trade in an exceptionally liquid market. Competition would then determine who among those parties wanting to sell to us would buy the certificates and how much they would pay. (I visualize that the certificates would be issued with a short life, possibly of six months, so that speculators would be discouraged from accumulating them.)

For illustrative purposes, let's postulate that each IC would sell for 10 cents -- that is, 10 cents per dollar of exports behind them. Other things being equal, this amount would mean a U.S. producer could realize 10 percent more by selling his goods in the export market than by selling them domestically, with the extra 10 percent coming from his sales of ICs.

In my opinion, many exporters would view this as a reduction in cost, one that would let them cut the prices of their products in international markets. Commodity-type products would particularly encourage this kind of behavior. If aluminum, for example, was selling for 66 cents per pound domestically and ICs were worth 10 percent, domestic aluminum producers could sell for about 60 cents per pound (plus transportation costs) in foreign markets and still earn normal margins. In this scenario, the output of the U.S. would become significantly more competitive and exports would expand. Along the way, the number of jobs would grow.

Foreigners selling to us, of course, would face tougher economics. But that's a problem they're up against no matter what trade "solution" is adopted -- and make no mistake, a solution must come. (As Herb Stein said, "If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.") In one way the IC approach would give countries selling to us great flexibility, since the plan does not penalize any specific industry or product. In the end, the free market would determine what would be sold in the U.S. and who would sell it. The ICs would determine only the aggregate dollar volume of what was sold.

To see what would happen to imports, let's look at a car now entering the U.S. at a cost to the importer of $20,000. Under the new plan and the assumption that ICs sell for 10 percent, the importer's cost would rise to $22,000. If demand for the car was exceptionally strong, the importer might manage to pass all of this on to the American consumer. In the usual case, however, competitive forces would take hold, requiring the foreign manufacturer to absorb some, if not all, of the $2,000 IC cost.


Over at Angry Bear, there is a post up that pokes a few holes in it ...
Like: 1. The certificates being traded on the open market, and the resultant speculation pricing?
2. What would assure that the certificate values do not become the enabler of American junk? Like the US auto industry was back in the 70's.
3. What protects the consumer from the ability of a US company to gain all the benefit of improved exporting? Are we to just assume that the increase in world demand for our products will increase the demand for labor such that pay for labor will rise? Didn't happen early on in our history. It took the bloodied rise of unions to force it.
4. What is to stop a company from setting up shell corps in the US, do some fancy booking and benefit from exporting to its self? Kind of like the transfer payments for tax evasion. Can you say Corporate Welfare?
5. Can this work in a global trade system that has let a new virtual nation come into existance: The United Corporations of Global. Does not a nation actually have to have possession of it's corporations for such to work for the benefit of the nation?

Lewis Black on Conspicuous Consumption


I once worked for Adelphia Communications and have always thought that if John Rigas would have spent his money on a personal ballwasher he would never have been imprisoned.

Go Dennis!

On the table

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Which Obama Narrative Will be most popular among wingnuts?

  1. Barack Obama is a Communist
  2. Barack Obama is a Fascist
  3. Barack Obama is a Corporate Tool
  4. Barack Obama is a Muslim
  5. Barack Obama is a Radical Black Liberationist
  6. Barack Obama hates America
  7. Michelle Obama hates America
  8. Barack Obama will weaken the military
  9. Barack Obama is a tax and spend Democrat
The careful reader will note that a couple of these are mutually exclusive ...

Delusional Blog Comment of the day

From, where else, No Quarter ...
Obviously, Hillary was the true populist and the true outsider.


but .. umm ... wasn't she supposed to be the one with 35 years experience .. and umm .. isn't Obama supposed to be the one that hasn't been around enough yet?

As they say ... the stupid, it burns

Hillary Clinton's Concession Speech



This is the way that you do a concession speech. Senator Hillary Clinton did a very nice job with this. I hope some of her more unhinged supporters were paying attention