Some folks seem to think I occasionally have interesting things to say. I don't always agree.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
On Civility and politicians in trouble
Of late his facebook page has been overwhelmed with people calling him nasty names. His response to this is to say that all discourse on his page must be "respectful".
Personally I think that using the city as a slush fund is pretty fucking disrespectful but that is just me
Disgusting
Died of a cute overload?
Fuckwittage: Bobby Franklin edition
Pakistan beats Australia
Andrew Sullivan on Libya
Video - A special song of sweetness and love
Video - Jonathan Coulton
How Many Years did the GS Execs get?
"A former Goldman Sachs programmer convicted of stealing the bank’s high-speed trading software was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison."
On Florida Real Estate
On measured responses
Geeky Post of the day - OBIEE
This is what I actually do for a living. Yeah, I know.
What a douchebag - Stephen Harper Edition
On Aflac firing Gilbert Gottfried
Comment of the year so far at PZ Meyer's place
I may get slammed for saying this but...After seeing the way things work first-hand, I think the only RESPONSIBLE thing a person on any kind of assistance can do is cheat.I said it, cheat. Break the rules. Become an "abuser." You HAVE to.Not by buying a beer (though fine by me if you do.) Rather, by HIDING MONEY.They take away your benefits if you have a dime to your name - yet you can't escape that without scrimping and saving. You HAVE to cheat. You HAVE to have a secret stash of cash, somehow, somewhere. If you have ANY hope for your future, if you have ANY dreams of getting out of the hole - YOU HAVE TO CHEAT THE SYSTEM.Because the system is rigged to be against you. The system is immoral.I know a few people who managed to better their lives, get out of some of the worst slums around (while the slumlords, with literally THOUSANDS of violations in their properties, with people house in condemned buildings, got paid tens of millions of dollars for their property as a solution to end the blight they caused.You got it - slumlord with literally thousands of legal violations? The way to fix that is give him millions. His VICTIMS try to save a few bucks in hope of getting the hell out? CUT OFF THEIR BENEFITS!These few people who managed to escape this escaped because they "cheated." They hid money, money they weren't "allowed" to have, until they gathered up enough to GET THE HELL OUT.FUCK you people that think that the only thing a poor person deserves is JUST enough to keep them alive and dreading their life, dreading each day. Who think that the life of a child born into poverty must be spent not only sitting around hopeless with nothing but the clothes on their back, waiting for the decades to pass before they die, but that they also have to feel GRATEFUL to you for allowing them your spare bread crumbs.They don't get to have hopes and dreams, or a chance to socialize, have a moment's peace or pleasure, or a chance to participate in a culture that has been deliberately stolen, privatized and turned into a pay-per-view event.The WISE thing, the RESPONSIBLE thing for a person on any assistance to do is to break the rules not with the hope to defraud, but with the hope of ESCAPE.And if they are mentally ill, too physically ill, or too old to fight their way out and escape by saving, maybe their only way to escape is that beer. That joint. That TV to stare at. Not an optimal situation, but let's get clear here - for many THAT'S ALL that they have to hope for. They will NOT be getting a job at Google or even McDonald's. They're too old or ill.They have no choice but to sit around.Health programs to get them off booze if they're addicted, absolutely.But if that 68 year old disabled guy in a section 8 room with a toilet down the hall and screaming neighbors and noise and stink in the hallways who will NEVER have a better chance (that isn't handed to him?) LET HIM HAVE A FUCKING BEER.Put it on MY tab if you're too fucking selfish to have a fraction of a cent of your precious tax money go to him.
Did I pick the right field or what?
BI/analytics is drawing corporate funding
BI/analytics is not easily outsourced
BI/analytics initiates face-to-face contact and deeper relationships with the business
BI/analytics is constantly evolving, requiring increasing levels of engagements – and more projects
BI/analytics hiring keeps climbing, since it is in great demand"
Sunday Booze sales coming to Georgia?
Running of the Brides
On going cashless in Minnesota
Small government my ass
On Economic inequity
Today, one in four U.S. workers earns less than $9 an hour—about $19,000 per year. Thirty-nine percent of the nation’s children live in low-income households. And African-American and Latino families are much more likely to be poor or low-income and are less likely to have assets or home equity to offset low wages."
On ARK Music Factory
Video - Rocket Powered Matchbox Cars!
USB Keyboard Made from Old Typewriter
"Looking for a unique gift? Here’s an antique typewriter which has been modified to function as a USB Keyboard for PC, Mac, or even iPad. That’s very cool, isn’t it?"
I actually find this vaguely disturbing.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Smoke Em if You got em
Insane Townhall Comment of the day
What 'Christian would change his name to Hussein?
What Christian would cover a crusifix of Jesus in a speech?
What Christian would forsake Israel's Biblical land to her enemies?
What Christian would encourage abortions with fed dollars?
What Christian would bow to a Muslim King?
What Christian would deny Christian prayer yet support Muslim prayer in public arenas?
What Christian would skip prayer breakfast, but attend it's Muslim version?
Yeah.. simply by his actions I can see where lib hack idiots would believe he's not a Muslim. Oh wait... You guys say he isn't a Muslim because he and his handlers say he isn't. I say that makes you guys twice as stupid for believing face value what a politician tells you.
One born every minute
Words of wisdom; 'You will know a tree by it's fruits."
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Expensive damn donuts
Homeopathy as a radiation treatment
"(R)adioactive material carried by wind and air currents may spread contaminated material to neighboring islands and countries. For all concerned, there are protective steps that can be taken with homeopathy. Key remedies that have been used either in research or historically to prevent or treat radiation poisoning include the following: Cadmium iodide; Cadmium-sulph; Phosphorus; Strontium-carbonicum; and X-ray. If at risk of radiation exposure, any one of the above remedies may be taken as an emergency response, three times a day in a 30C potency. Do not exceed 6 doses without guidance from your homeopath."
PZ Meyers on Marriage
On Intervention in Libya
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
More evidence that the NRA is not a rational organization
GOP Priorities - Jobs, jobs, jobs
"But in the larger context, I'm curious, will congressional Republicans ever even pretend to focus on job creation? We've seen Republicans targeting abortion rights, access to health care, Muslim Americans, and a variety of domestic priorities, but the elusive GOP plan to create jobs is still nowhere to be seen."
KV Pharmaceutical is Evil
"A drug for high-risk pregnant women has cost about $10 to $20 per injection. Next week, the price shoots up to $1,500 a dose, meaning the total cost during a pregnancy could be as much as $30,000."
There is no, none, not any, justification for this. KV Pharmaceutical and especially its CEO one Gregory J. Divis Jr deserve all of the scorn and derision that can possibly be heaped upon them.
WHy Does this remind me of Robocop?
Weird
Why the fuck is yoko ono on my tv?
On the Incumbent Protect Racket - Virginia Edition
On Conservative Pundits
"Because if they did, the answers they would have to face would end their careers, and the careers of hundreds of other who have risen to great and influential positions even though they have spent much of their lives as public intellectuals getting the Big, Important Issues wrong, wrong, wrong."
I am reminded of my Facebook status from yesterday ...
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it." - Upton Sinclari
More bad news from japan
Shinji Kinjo, an agency spokesman, said that 'a leak of nuclear material is feared', after the explosion was heard at 6:10am local time (21:10 GMT) on Tuesday."
Monday, March 14, 2011
We're #1!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Missing the Point - William Pesek edition
Japan might well benefit from any shakeup that encourages entrepreneurship from the ground up, increases competitiveness and imposes change on the decidedly change-resistant bureaucrats who really run the nation. For years, pundits said only a major crisis will bring about change in Japan. March 11 provided the shock; leaders just need to act accordingly.
Bring On the Locusts
Another Explosion at A Japanese Reactor
On intelligent Political discourse in America
I believe that if common sense prevails, we can get beyond wedge issues and stale political debates to find a sensible, intelligent way to make the United States of America a safer, stronger place.
OK, go ahead and impeach him. He is obviously delusional.
Politco Comment of the day
Dear Shawn L,The band struck up Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A.," drawing big laughs from the some 650 government officials, political figures, news executives and journalists in gathered at the Washington Renaissance hotel for the club's 126th anniversary.I am glad that these slobs think it is funny that our Commander in Chief may be a foreign born imposter. He spends millions hiding his past from the American people with the help of the corrupt news organizations who cheer him for doing it. I have to question the sanity of our media and our gov't officials who think this is the least bit funny. We have an economy on the brink of disaster, the middle east in complete upheval, Japan completely destroyed, a health care bill that even the Democrats won't talk about, and what does our President do this week? He talks about school bullying, Equal pay for women, and has a party at the white house to watch basketball. After that he golfs and puts on a stand up comedy routine at a dinner for his worshipers. Even if you voted for this man who calls himself President of the U.S. you cannot be happy with his track record. He seems completely oblivious the seriousness of the problems around him. My assesment is that he is a very immature, arrogant man who has had every opportunity in life handed to him because of the fabricated image he has built for himself. If you voted for him the first time, realize you made a big mistake and correct it.
Shawn L.
Go fuck yourself
Love Rob :)
Hopeful news on Gabrielle Giffords
"Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, just two months from the tragic shooting in Tuscon where she suffered a bullet wound to the head, is doing so well in rehabilitation in Houston, Texas, that she may attend the shuttle launch of her husband, Mark Kelly, on April 19.
Giffords’ doctors, who held a news conference Friday, said that the patient can speak in complete sentences, and is improving tangibly with each passing day. She is able to walk with some assistance. Giffords has no memory of the shooting itself, but doctors described that as normal."
I don't like the characterization of it as "miraculous" but this is very hopeful news.
I agree with McMegan on this.
"So too, I suspect, with tormenting prisoners, and civil liberties. Maybe if Mark and I were president, we'd support this stuff too. Which is not, by the way, an argument for doing it. It's an argument that we need to serve as a check on the president. Because we're not going to fix it by just electing a better person to be president. Whoever we elect will still be president, with all that implies."
I like to think that I am a better person than that but I have a horrible feeling that I just might not be. Are any of us?
Sunday Night Book Club
Collapse - Jared Diamond
The Black Swan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The logical end of Michele Bachmann's ideas
Manning and Crowley
I do agree with whomever is posting this weekend at the Daily Dish that Obama now owns whatever mistreatment Manning is subjected to and he should be judged accordingly.
Because football is more important than learning
When you start losing the Beckites
Yet another antt-gay politician is gay
"Carl Kruger is a Democratic state senator from Brooklyn. His vote against gay marriage last year was crucial in stopping the measure in New York. Funny thing: He lives with his gay lover, who's the bagman in their bribery racket."
The really sad part about this is that as a Democrat Kruger probably didn't have to worry much about coming out.
PJ Crowley had to go
"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley is resigning his post, the department said Sunday, after reports that Crowley had called 'stupid' the Pentagon's treatment of a soldier accused of leaking secret documents that appeared on the WikiLeaks website."
I am not going to deny what he said was true. The problem is that when you are spokesman for a government you can never go off message. If you are uncomfortable with that then you don't take the job. This isn't about the White House not allowing dissent. The place for dissent though is on the inside, you don't get to freelance.
GOP are willing to blow up economy to save it
Mitch McConnell
"Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) issued a stern warning Sunday that no Republican senators would vote to raise the debt ceiling if Democrats don't take what he called a 'credible effort' to deal with the country's debt.
'I don't intend to support raising the debt ceiling and I don't believe any Senate Republicans do, unless we do something important related to spending and debt,' he told Fox News' Chris Wallace."
And John Boehner
"I think raising the debt limit is the responsible thing to do for our country, the responsible thing for our economy," Mr. Boehner said. "If we were to fail to increase the debt limit, we would send our economy into a tailspin."
should have a little chat.
Grownups my ass.
SATSQ - Daily Dish Edition
"It is, I understand, too much to ask of such war-mongerers whether they have any sense of shame left - that tends to be surgically removed during Fox News contract negotiations. But is it too much to ask that they acknowledge that the last two wars they argued for with such moral preening led to a human catastrophe, with no long-term security gains for the US, and vast amounts of debt? Is a total lack of reflection or responsibility now mandatory with these people?"
Yes and Yes.
This has been yet another edition of Simple Answers To Simple Questions.