Jun 30, 2010

Shinny New Broken Things

"Sometimes, news items are just about a good laugh. You may or may not like Apple, but the way it has been handling its antenna issue has been like a small tech soap opera — Steve Jobs, the CEO, saying 'not to hold the phone that way,' rumors of software issues, and the latest but most crunchy part, since the antenna issue has been widely discovered, on 23 June, several 'antenna engineer' positions opened up at Apple. Seems someone got fired: Antenna engineer job position 1, Antenna engineer job position 2, Antenna engineer job position 3."

And speaking of cell phones,
Microsoft's Kin was about as well received as Windows Me.

Just six weeks after launch, Microsoft's Kin, the social phone is dead. Microsoft is ending its short life, sources close to Microsoft tell us.

There won't be a separate Kin product anymore. Effective immediately, Andy Lees is shoving the entire Kin team into the core Windows Phone 7 team, so there will just be one big group to focus on Windows Phone 7.

The major reason? Sales. Microsoft never confirmed (or denied) that only 500 Kins were sold, but it's clear that the response has been completely underwhelming. Otherwise, why kill a project that was in development for years after just a few weeks? (And cost millions.)

A major reason it bombed, besides the weird, non-specific faux hipster marketing? Price. Verizon priced Kin's monthly service like a smartphone, even though it wasn't one. Even cutting the device price drastically didn't alleviate the high cost of the monthly plan. (The confusing Kin, a Windows Phone 7 Phone by Microsoft flustercluck branding didn't help.)

Ah. failure with the shinny new gadget things. I love it.

Jun 29, 2010

Life Altering Device Created

It’s a Waffsicle maker. Nuff said.

Al Gore's Massage


Looks like Al and Tipper aren't getting divorced because of a misplaced aluminum can or 'drifting apart' -- no, more like a half-assed Clinton attempt to get a happy ending. Didn't he learn ANYTHING after hanging out with Bill for eight years?

Apparently calls to the hotel masseuse in Oregon at 10:30 is a call for an actual masseuse. Elliot Spritzer at least got that part right.

Anyhow, since no one in the States are talking about Mr. Gore's botched debauchery - that's where I come in - here's a Sim-like computer generated version of the masseues's perspective of how it went down that evening... and judging by the look on her computer generated face, she did not go down on anyone. This re-enactment was created by Taiwanese "news service" NMA to re-create the allegations made against Al Gore. And that's news service, the same way Entertainment Tonight is news.

Funny. He still looks a little stiff.

Han and Chewy: 30 Years Later


Looks like Chewbacca's lost a lot of hair in his later years.

Picture of the Day

GLORY GLORY, HALLELUJAH...

We're Down To This

MAFIA WARS, THE MOVIE

Facebook's Mafia Wars game will be turned into a movie
by Sean O'Neal June 28, 2010

“What’s more ludicrous than a film about Facebook?” you asked: An adaptation of the Facebook game Mafia Wars is on its way to the big screen, according to those perennial bearers of bad news at Pajiba. Radar Pictures—the production company behind All About Steve and The Box, whose motto is obviously “when you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing to lose”—is said to be shopping the concept around to screenwriters right now, looking for that elusive someone who can finally turn the mafia into a piece of filmed entertainment. Here’s hoping the finished product is the story of a small-time hood who tries rising through the ranks of organized crime, only to be abandoned by everyone he’s ever known because they all find him super annoying now.

Jun 28, 2010

New Billboard

Hot on the heels of their McDonald’s “re-branding campaign,” the Billboard Liberation Front announces a “partnership” with Philip Morris aimed at stressing the importance of choice.

The Billboard Liberation Front (BLF) is honored to announce a new marketing partnership with Philip Morris (PM) that finally brings together the rugged sense of American independence with your most important choice as a consumer: your death. The message of “My Life. My Death. My Choice.” informs and empowers the consumer to choose, as their god given right, how they want to die. Philip Morris brings this message to the consumer to remind them that some rights are inalienable in life as they are in death.

The new an improved billboard can be seen towering over Howard at Van Ness in San Francisco.

[laughingsquid.]

Chicago Gun Win

Supreme Court extends gun rights in Chicago case

The Supreme Court reversed a ruling upholding Chicago's ban today and extended the reach of the 2nd Amendment as a nationwide protection against laws that infringe the "right to keep and bear arms."

Justices Rule That 2nd Amendment Also Governs State and Local Gun Laws

The 5-4 decision appears to void the 1982 ordinance, one of the nation's strictest, which barred city residents from having handguns for their own use, even at home.

Gun-rights advocates have been closely following the Chicago case. They said a victory for the 2nd Amendment would clear the way for constitutional challenges to restrictions on firearms to be heard in federal courts nationwide.

The ruling against Chicago's ban had been widely anticipated.

The City Council could consider new gun-control measures as soon as Wednesday, Mayor Richard Daley said last week.

City Hall has been drawing up plans after the justices heard arguments in McDonald v. Chicago in early March and appeared to indicate they would rule against the city.

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune,
the mayor said his primary goal would be to protect police officers, paramedics and emergency workers from being shot when responding to an incident at a home. He said he also wants to save taxpayers from the financial cost of lawsuits if police shoot someone in the house because the officer felt threatened.

"If the ban is overturned, we will see a lot of common-sense approaches in the city aimed at protecting first responders," Daley said. "We have to have some type of registry. If a first responder goes to an apartment, they need to know if that individual has a gun."

More details to come.

Quote of the Day

"I chant, 'drill baby drill,' because it will help make the country energy independent," she said.
Sarah Palin fired up an enthusiastic Texas crowd late Saturday by criticizing President Barack Obama's handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, saying he's falling short on leadership.

The former Alaska governor told about 5,000 people at the Oil Palace in Tyler that the president should have been more aggressive in going after BP executives after the spill. The British company was leasing a rig that exploded April 20, causing the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

"You asked for the job, Mr. President, so buck up," Palin said to voracious applause.

Palin said Obama and the federal government have been too slow in helping victims of the oil spill. She also said there have been too many regulations in allowing residents to begin cleaning up oil along the shoreline and from the water.

"After two months of incompetence from the federal government, they are taking it in their own hands," Palin said.

She also said the U.S. must become independent of foreign oil by using its own resources. But that it must be done responsibly and under government oversight.

The feedback loop is strong in this one. The government is incompetent but must oversee energy independence - by drilling more oil? Or, just foreign oil? Foreign oil from Canada and Mexico?

Oh Come On!

It seems the man who steered Britain through the most dangerous period of its recent history HAS fallen victim to the modern curse of political correctness.

Last night the question of who removed the cigar and when was something of a mystery.

The Winston Churchill's Britain At War Experience, in South-East London, confessed to being astonished to discover that the image may have been doctored.

Which is a little embarrassing for the staff at the charitable trust, because the photograph features on a giant poster hanging above the museum's main door.

Peace Brings Turmoil. What?

Afghanistan In Turmoil After Peace Talk Rumors

Pakistan proposes peace talks between Hamid Karzai and a notorious insurgent commander triggering political tensions.

Pakistani proposals for peace talks between President Hamid Karzai and a notorious insurgent commander have triggered political tensions inside Afghanistan that analysts warn could dangerously destabilize the country.

Western officials say Pakistan's ISI spy agency has offered to negotiate with Sirajuddin Haqqani – an al-Qaida linked commander accused of numerous suicide attacks – as part of a broader initiative to find a find a settlement to the conflict.

Read more ....

Update: Afghan talks raise speculation -- Al Jazeera

Afghanistan's minority groups are clearly upset with these developments, but CIA Director Panetta's skepticism on the success of these talks is probably right.

Pakistan is trying to broker a deal in order to have a say in future peace and reconciliation talks in Afghanistan. To get to the table they are threatening the Haqqani network that if they do not try to resolve their differences with the Kabul Government, Pakistani forces will be launched against their safe havens on the Pakistan-Afghan border, which is why they're sitting down to start talking.

To reconcile with an enemy that you regard is a puppet of the infidels is something that the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies do not do - it will be an affront to their religious convictions. But they've show they can turn those on and off when it is convenient for them.

This is all theater and show, and buys time before Pakistani forces attack Haqqani camps on their side of the Pakistan border.

Thanks to our good friends @ War News Update for the Post


Oh, and speaking of Afghanistan --

U.S. Officials Say Karzai Aides Are Derailing Corruption Cases Involving Elite

Not even Mayor Daley of Chicago has this kind of clout. Top officials in President Hamid Karzai's government have repeatedly derailed corruption investigations of politically connected Afghans, according to U.S. officials who have provided Afghanistan's authorities with wiretapping technology and other assistance in efforts to crack down on endemic graft.

In recent months, the U.S. officials said, Afghan prosecutors and investigators have been ordered to cross names off case files, prevent senior officials from being placed under arrest and disregard evidence against executives of a major financial firm suspected of helping the nation's elite move millions of dollars overseas.
Read more ....

I suppose if you're skimming billions off of the Americans, and you bribe the Americans back with those same dollars - you can do anything? No?

Jun 27, 2010

Internet Kill Switch

Meanwhile, while you were watching soccer...

A US Senate committee has approved a wide-ranging cybersecurity bill that some critics have suggested would give the US president the authority to shut down parts of the Internet during a cyberattack.

Senator Joe Lieberman and other bill sponsors have refuted the charges that the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act gives the president an Internet "kill switch." Instead, the bill puts limits on the powers the president already has to cause "the closing of any facility or stations for wire communication" in a time of war, as described in the Communications Act of 1934, they said in a breakdown of the bill published on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee website.

The committee unanimously approved an amended version of the legislation by voice vote Thursday, a committee spokeswoman said. The bill next moves to the Senate floor for a vote, which has not yet been scheduled.

Goodbye free speech. It was fun while it lasted.

Another Failure for Obama

World Leaders at Toronto Summit Pledge to Cut Deficits

Leaders of the world's biggest economies agreed on Sunday on a timetable for cutting their deficits and halting the growth of their public debt, despite the Obama administration's concern that reducing spending too quickly might set back the fragile global recovery.

The Group of 20 countries ended a two-day summit meeting here by endorsing a goal of cutting government deficits in half by 2013 and stabilizing the ratio of public debt to gross domestic product by 2016. Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, had proposed the targets and received the backing of several European leaders.

It seems Greece was more compelling than Mr. Obama? Read More:

Oh, and Tyler Durden was arrested.

Bi-Polar Environmental ClimateFaithers

First U.S. offshore wind energy project faces lawsuit!

Environmental groups plan to file suit in federal court, accusing the Obama Administration of violating the Endangered Species Act with its approval of the Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound.
Wind  turbine at Martha's Vineyard, Mass.
Wind turbine at Martha's Vineyard, Mass.

A single wind turbine stands at the Woods Hole Research Center on Cape Cod. There is strong opposition to a proposal to erect 130 wind turbine generators in Nantucket Sound, between Cape Cod and the resort islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times / March 19, 2010)


In what I consider the most hypocritical item of the week - (and this beat out all the Democrats and MoveOn.Com who HATED General Petraeus and now sing his praises as the savior of US foreign policy because Mr. Obama 'friend-ed' him) - on one US coastline you have environmentalists holding hands on the beach to halt all oil drilling, (wearing green helmets made of plastic. Which is made of oil) and on another US coastline, you've got another set of environmentalists filing suit to keep their holy grail totems of 'green energy' from being built to save some birds.

*ahem*

YOU CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS, YOU IDIOTS

I'm almost completely convinced that environmentalism has nothing to do with the environment, and everything to do with bringing down 'evil' capitalism. No energy source....coal, oil, gas, wind, solar, nuclear is acceptable to these people. But they still run out and stand in line to buy an iPhone 4. "I want my green energy, but I still will fight to the death for NIMBY. Not in My Back Yard." I don't know, I would think that a true ClimateFaither having a windmill on their property would be showing leadership and almost certain smugness. Why don't you hippies go form a commune - or better - join the Amish? No, the Amish probably wouldn't put up with their brand of bullsh*t.

Actually, I think this brand of environmentalism shows their true nature - they're so self loathing that they believe in the eradication of humans is the 'final solution' to save their precious earth. Not them though. Like other faiths - religious faith - they're the saved ones. These people are more dangerous than the Heaven's Gate cultists -- at least those souls took their lives and left the earth for what they believed in. These morons want their cake and eat it too - and none for you... which tells me they're all Baby Boomers.... and that these windmills are messing up their view of the Cape.

Or worse, are funded by the rich folks who live on the Cape astroturfing the concern for birds. Worse more, it's a scam to rip off Massachusetts for 10 million in 'mitigation fees.'

And yes, Coast-line Environmentalists, you're our
BLASPHEMES HYPOCRITES
OF THE WEEK

The Week In Review - Sunday Comics








Yesterday there was a protest against oil in Washington DC and also "hands across the sands" which was a bunch of white people holding hands on their beach front property. Many of them had green hard hats on, which meant they wanted 'clean' energy. Of note, were the green hard hats which were made of plastic. Which is made of petroleum. Goddamn it people.

And why does America need 20 million barrels of oil A DAY?
Yeah, it's a joke about the sweatshop that made the iPhone 4, but the reality is that it's our waiting-in-line attitude and cult-ish worship of the newest and shiniest new gadget rolled out on top of the pile of pointless consumerism and one-up-manship of the Joneses. But on the bright side, this lifestyle is completely unsustainable. Just ask everyone looking for employment.

That recovery is going great! Right?! I mean, every country in the world is following Mr. Obama's advice and driving their countries into crippling debt and dependence? What? they're not? They're standing up to him? Oh, Greece scared the living crap out of everyone? Really?

And as the G8 gets around to condemning North Korea for continuing to fight the Korean War, with a mildly worded letter, the good old fashioned protesting in Toronto is being led by Tyler Durden... no, really.

No. I mean, really. That's not shopped.

What a week. See you next time.

Jun 26, 2010

Next Time

Hey USA, you want to win the next World Cup? Let's send half of the Red Sox Nation and all of the Oakland Raiders Season Ticket holders to the the match and let's let them mix in the stands with this guy -- who is obviously what happens when you watch the Yoda scenes with too much acid.

Our people will turn those horns into beer bongs... and it'll get nuts from there. And I'm talking about those fun games between USA and the Dutch. We'll be unstoppable.

If we care.

Which we won't.

Let's let the English have their little game. We'll keep concentrating on real sports. Like badminton.

USA out of Wold Cup

USA Pauses, Yawns, Returns to Hating Soccer

Today's USA vs. Ghana match at the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a great one. There were 34,976 on hand to watch the highly anticipated game. Celebrities including former President Bill Clinton and Mick Jagger were on hand to watch the match.

Ghana scored quickly, and the USA team didn't seem to have it together during the first half of the match today. However, the USA came out re energized in the second half with Landon Donovan scoring a goal off of a penalty kick. The score remained tied 1-1 through the rest of the game. At that time, there was an additional 30 minutes of overtime added.

Early on in the OT, Ghana scored. It was the second goal of the day by Ghana's player Asamoah Gyan. It was a great effort by both teams. Unfortunately, the loss was a stunning blow to the USA team. They now have to go home getting knocked out of the World Cup for the second time in a row by Ghana. It is unfortunate that they went a goal down early on in the game.

The next time these two teams play will indeed be another grudge match.

The next time Americans give a rip will be in 4 years -maybe- in the next World Cup... but that seems doubtful.

Saturday Morning Cartoons: Facebook The Movie


First official teaser trailer for The Social Network — David Fincher’s big-screen adaptation of Ben Mezrich’s The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal.

The film, which stars Justin Timberlake, Jesse Eisenberg, and Andrew Garfield, is currently slated for release October 1.

June 26, 1876

June 26, 1876 The Battle of the Little Bighorn —also known as Custer's Last Stand and, in the parlance of the Native Americans involved, the Battle of Greasy Grass Creek—was an armed engagement between a Lakota–Northern Cheyenne combined force and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. It occurred on June 25 and June 26, 1876, near the Little Bighorn River in the eastern Montana Territory, near what is now Crow Agency, Montana.

Anyone know what the score of the Cubs playing the Red Sox that very day?

Jun 25, 2010

Bill Watching Soccer


Hey Cap, this is awesome, the caption should be… IT TASTES GOOD!!

Getting Around to It

The G8 - the US, Canada, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Japan - said: "We deplore the attack on 26 March that caused the sinking of the Republic of Korea's naval vessel, the Cheonan, resulting in tragic loss of 46 lives."

No word why it took, you know, about half a fuggin year to get around to recognizing that North Korea blatantly killed the 46 South Korean sailors is completely lost on me.


Closing Guantánamo Is Not Going To Happen

Other than that, how's Toronto?

Jun 24, 2010

PBR H2O

It's about time they admitted it. I mean, they've been riding that 1893 award a 'tad' too long.Meanwhile, some hipster's head just exploded.

Man Drifts a Mile Into Gulf Off Fla. On Pool Float

A man who apparently passed out on a pool float at a Tampa area beach ended up drifting about a mile from Florida's shore in the Gulf of Mexico.

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued the man, identified as Jerry Whipple, on Wednesday afternoon.

Coast Guard Petty Officer First Class Mariana O'Leary says they suspect the man was very drunk.

The Coast Guard says a boater reported seeing an unconscious man floating well offshore. The Coast Guard and a Clearwater Fire Rescue unit responded and found the man, still unconscious and wearing a life jacket.

He eventually woke up and was checked by paramedics at a Coast Guard station.

O'Leary said the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office will investigate the incident.

Jun 23, 2010

No Creationist Masters Degrees

Judge Tosses Creationists' Effort to Offer Master's Degrees
By MELISSA LUDWIG SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit by a creationism think tank and school that attempted to force the state of Texas to allow it to offer master's degrees in science education.

In 2008, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board rejected the Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research's application to offer master's degrees, which taught science from a biblical perspective. The institute's graduate school sued in 2009, claiming the board violated its constitutional right to free speech and religion.

'Disjointed, incoherent'

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks of Austin found no merit in the institute's claims and criticized its legal documents as "overly verbose, disjointed, incoherent, maundering and full of irrelevant information."

In an e-mailed statement, school representatives said they were reviewing the decision and may appeal.

The National Center for Science Education, an Oakland, Calif.-based nonprofit that defends the teaching of evolution, cheered the decision.

"The Coordinating Board made a principled decision in the first place, and it is good to see it was upheld in a court of law," said Glenn Branch, the center's deputy director.

The Institute for Creation Research's graduate school, which is based in California, has been offering master's degrees in that state since 1981, according to its website. Aimed at aspiring Christian schoolteachers, the curriculum critiques evolution and champions a literal interpretation of the biblical account of creation.

My half a penny, maybe we can start a new school that applies scientific principle to your beliefs? Oh, what's the matter? You don't like that idea?

I am encouraged that there is still a tiny spark of sanity left in Texas.

McChrystal Pulls a McClellan/MacArthur; About to Get Sacked

Right out of the pages of your tattered US History book, General Stanley McChrystal is about to join George B. McClellan and Douglas MacArthur in the discard pile of American Generals after talking some serious smack about his president outloud. And to Rolling Stone, of all people.

Here are some excerpts of what's about to get him canned and out of the War on Terror.

"Stan" McChrystal voted for Barack Obama, but he was disturbed when the president promoted him without knowing who he was.

Even though he had voted for Obama, McChrystal and his new commander in chief failed from the outset to connect. The general first encountered Obama a week after he took office, when the president met with a dozen senior military officials in a room at the Pentagon known as the Tank. According to sources familiar with the meeting, McChrystal thought Obama looked "uncomfortable and intimidated" by the roomful of military brass.

Their first one-on-one meeting took place in the Oval Office four months later, after McChrystal got the Afghanistan job, and it didn't go much better. "It was a 10-minute photo op," says an adviser to McChrystal. "Obama clearly didn't know anything about him, who he was. Here's the guy who's going to run his fucking war, but he didn't seem very engaged. The Boss was pretty disappointed."

Stanley McChrystal also struggled when he had to convince Barack Obama to give him power for something stupid. (Barack Obama eventually did this, of course.)

Last fall, with his top general calling for more troops, Obama launched a three-month review to re-evaluate the strategy in Afghanistan. "I found that time painful," McChrystal tells me in one of several lengthy interviews. "I was selling an unsellable position." For the general, it was a crash course in Beltway politics – a battle that pitted him against experienced Washington insiders like Vice President Biden, who argued that a prolonged counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan would plunge America into a military quagmire without weakening international terrorist networks. "The entire COIN [counterinsurgency] strategy is a fraud perpetuated on the American people," says Douglas Macgregor, a retired colonel and leading critic of counterinsurgency who attended West Point with McChrystal. "The idea that we are going to spend a trillion dollars to reshape the culture of the Islamic world is utter nonsense.

And here's pretty much the biggest problem with the Afghanistan war, Washington, Stanley McChrystal, and 21st century anxiety in general:

In private, Team McChrystal likes to talk shit about many of Obama's top people on the diplomatic side. One aide calls Jim Jones, a retired four-star general and veteran of the Cold War, a "clown" who remains "stuck in 1985." Politicians like McCain and Kerry, says another aide, "turn up, have a meeting with Karzai, criticize him at the airport press conference, then get back for the Sunday talk shows.

Frankly, it's not very helpful." Only Hillary Clinton receives good reviews from McChrystal's inner circle. "Hillary had Stan's back during the strategic review," says an adviser. "She said, 'If Stan wants it, give him what he needs.' "

McChrystal reserves special skepticism for Holbrooke, the official in charge of reintegrating the Taliban. "The Boss says he's like a wounded animal," says a member of the general's team. "Holbrooke keeps hearing rumors that he's going to get fired, so that makes him dangerous. He's a brilliant guy, but he just comes in, pulls on a lever, whatever he can grasp onto. But this is COIN, and you can't just have someone yanking on shit."

At one point on his trip to Paris, McChrystal checks his BlackBerry. "Oh, not another e-mail from [U.S. special envoy Richard] Holbrooke," he groans. "I don't even want to open it." He clicks on the message and reads the salutation out loud, then stuffs the BlackBerry back in his pocket, not bothering to conceal his annoyance.

"Make sure you don't get any of that on your leg," an aide jokes, referring to the e-mail.

You know, Lincoln was famously quoted as saying, "If General McClellan does not want to use the army, I would like to borrow it for a time." Despite this, he was the most popular of that army's commanders with its soldiers, who felt that he had their morale and well-being as paramount concerns. The analogy doesn't work here. McChrystal was shooting - and shooting his mouth off too.

General McClellan also failed to maintain the trust of Lincoln, and proved to be frustratingly derisive of, and insubordinate to, his commander-in-chief. After he was relieved of command, McClellan became the unsuccessful Democratic nominee opposing Lincoln in the 1864 presidential election. Perhaps there's something to that in the McChrystal story? MacArthur was just a little too happy to pursue the Korean War.

Rolling Stone?!
Oh, also, the General loves Bud Light Lime, and his favorite movie was Talladega Nights. Now that's more up to par with the Rolling Stone interviews I'm used to.

Here's some more excerpts from Rolling Stone magazine profile

Jun 22, 2010

Judge Overules Obama's Moratorium

Judge Cock-Blocks Obama's Moratorium on Deep-Water Oil Drilling

A federal judge in New Orleans issued an injunction against a six-month moratorium on new deep-water oil and gas drilling projects that was imposed by the Obama administration after an explosion on a drilling rig led to a vast oil spill in the
Gulf of Mexico, the Associated Press reported.

The White House said the administration would appeal the ruling.

Ruling in favor of oilfield services companies whose business suffered under the moratorium, District Judge Martin Feldman said that the Interior Department failed to provide adequate reasoning for the moratorium, and instead merely seemed to
assume that one rig failure meant all deep-water drilling posed an imminent danger.

No word yet on how the lack of Constitutionality of Obama's Moratorium had an effect on this ruling.

Want to Read More?

Gun Training For Kids

The Republican endorsed candidate for Connecticut attorney general is advocating firearms training for children in schools, in Scout groups and in summer camps.

Avon attorney Martha Dean said if elected she would explore expanding gun accident prevention programs and rifle club teams in schools.

"As your Attorney General, I will advocate firearms training for boys and girls in schools, in scouts, at camp and elsewhere," she said at a Second Amendment rally in April. "We teach sex education in school, yet we omit the most basic skill needed to exercise fundamental constitutional rights."

Fellow Republican candidate Ross Garber on Monday assailed Dean's comments and said the office of attorney general should not be used to give guns to children or promote personal views.

"As the state's chief civil legal officer, the attorney general should focus on being a strong advocate for the state and its citizens, not pushing a personal political agenda," said Garber in a statement.

Dean stood by her earlier statements Monday, saying she's just a proponent of the laws written in the Constitution and that it was "false" and "intentionally misleading" for Garber to say she advocates giving weapons to children.

"Kids should know how to prevent accidents and they should have access to basic skills that are a part of our constitutional rights," she said.

George Jepsen, the Democrat endorsed candidate, said he objected to Dean's views. "Guns and juveniles should be a parental choice, not a governmental mandate," he said. Dean and Garber face each other in the state primary elections Aug. 10.

Now, I'm re-posting this story, because, naturally, someone has a problem with this idea and thinks that firearm safety is an absurd concept for children.

I disagree and say that firearm safety teaches children to respect weapons and not play with them.

Now, if we can do this with sex ed, we'll be all set. Right?

Texas Congressional nominee wants to impeach Obama, opposes UN... with a twist

Republicans have had a good laugh at the expense of South Carolina Democrats, who nominated Alvin Greene to challenge for Jim DeMint’s Senate seat despite the fact that Greene didn’t campaign, has a pending felony obscenity investigation, and is barely coherent in his media interviews. (Wow, sounds like an Illinois race to me... Scott Lee Cohen, anyone?) But the tables are turned and now it may be time for Democrats to laugh at Republicans. The nominee for the Texas’ CD-22 has publicly called for Barack Obama’s impeachment and wants to abolish the UN. Democrats would have a field day making Kesha Rogers the face of the Republican Party across the entire nation … if it weren’t for the fact that Rogers is a Democrat:

South Carolina’s unexpected Democratic nominee for the US Senate, mystery man Alvin Greene, says he wants to play golf with Barack Obama. But in Texas, another surprise Democratic primary winner, congressional nominee Kesha Rogers, wants to impeach the President. So while South Carolina party officials are still unsure of what to do about Greene’s success at the ballot box, Texas Democrats have no such reservations — they wasted little time in casting Rogers into exile and offering no support or recognition of her campaign to win what once was Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s old seat.

Rogers, 33, told TIME she is a “full time political activist” in the Lyndon LaRouche Youth Movement, a recruiting arm of the LaRouche political organization that is active on many college campuses. The LYM espouses LaRouche opposition to free trade and “globalism” (the UN, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund) and it also calls for a return to a humanist classical education, emphasizing the works of Plato and Leibnitz. On her professional looking campaign website, kesharogers.com, she touts the LaRouche political philosophy — a mix of support for the economic policies of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the impeachment of President Obama — and calls Obama a “London and Wall Street backed puppet” whose policies will destroy the Democratic Party.

Well, maybe Texas Democrats in the 22nd district just got fooled from another Greene-like stealth candidacy. I’m sure they didn’t hear about Rogers’ nutty, LaRouchian politics before casting their ballots. Rogers probably got listed first on the ballot, right? Actually she was, but that’s not why she won:

Unlike South Carolina’s Greene, Rogers ran a high profile campaign, staking out a corner on a major intersection in the district to appear almost daily with a large sign: “Save NASA. Impeach Obama.” She garnered 7,467 votes, 53% of the vote, in a three way race that included a local information systems analyst Doug Blatt, who gained endorsements from local Democratic clubs and labor groups, and Freddie John Weider Jr., a preacher and onetime Libertarian candidate; Blatt came in second with 28% of the vote and Weider won 20%.

Now Democrats have refused to provide her any support, Time reports, accusing her of racism because of her connection to the LaRouche movement — which is an interesting allegation, considering that Rogers is African-American. Maybe someone should have looked at her picture before leaping immediately to the race-baiting smear. They would have been better off questioning her sanity.

Texas-22 will likely be a footnote in the midterm elections, with incumbent Republican Pete Olsen handily beating Rogers in the general election. It should draw attention to one widely misreported aspect of the Tea Party movement, however:

During the campaign, she was photographed carrying an oversized portrait of the President with a Hitler-style mustache penciled on his lip.

As those of us who have attended the Tea Party rallies and followed the movement know, it’s been the LaRouchies all along who have brought the Obama-as-Nazi posters along. The media, however, insisted on tarring the entire movement with those posters rather than report on their actual origin. I wonder whether they’ll be inclined to treat the Democratic Party the same — and in this case, Rogers won an election among Democrats based in part on that campaign imagery.

by Ed Morrissey

Jun 21, 2010

No Rest

White House mocks Hayward's yachting -- and defends Obama's golf outing

"I will not rest until the Gulf oil spill is taken care of"

White House spokesman had a little fun at the expense of BP CEO Tony Hayward at the daily briefing Monday, tweaking him for taking his yacht out on the water for a race off English shores the Gulf continues to not give a hoot - and pollutes.

"You know, look, if Tony Hayward wants to put a skimmer on that yacht and bring it down to the Gulf, we'd be happy to have his help," Bill Burton said.

(A skimmer is a piece of equipment dragged by a ship to corral surface oil so that it can be burned or vacuumed up.)

"Tony Hayward, I guess, took himself at his word that he was going to get his life back here. It's clear that he has," Burton said. "But what's important to us is that the people in the Gulf get their lives back. It's not so easy for them to just take a weekend away and forget about everything that's happening down there."

At the same time, Burton defended the president's Saturday golf outing, which has also come in for some fire, saying, "I don't think that there's a person in this country that doesn't think that their president ought to have a little time to clear his mind."

No word about the President also taking in a Nationals/White Sox game and watching over 3 hours of World Cup Soccer. It's clear he won't be resting while doing it, I guess?

Perhaps, just perhaps you can't have your cake and eat it at the same time, unless you're a White House spokesperson?

Amerrreekah!

America, F-ck Yeah! We're gonna' take your mutha fuggin' burger!

'Half' of Al Qaeda



Rahm Emanuel: Half Of Al Qaeda 'Eliminated' -- ABC News

One of the missed parts that was casually dropped by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said on 'This Week' was "About “a half of al Qaeda has been eliminated in this last 18 months”

Discussing the war in Afghanistan – which recently became America’s longest – with host Jake Tapper, Emanuel was bullish on the progress that has been made in war-torn country and insisted that President Obama’s July 2011 deadline for the beginning of a drawdown of troops was “not moving.”

Read more ....

Yes, but for every Al Qaeda #2 and random soldier killed .... there are scores who are willing to take their place. The White House's confidence that the enemy is losing is a bit premature .... in fact .... Al Qaeda has just publicized their peace terms with the U.S. as well as threatening new attacks.

Hmmmm .... they don't sound vanquished to me, Rahm.

Thanks War News Update

Happy Solstice

Happy Solstice Day, to all you New Age crystal buyers and neo-pagan Druid types gathered at Stonehenge today.

Thousands of New Agers and neo-pagans danced and whooped in delight as a bright early morning sun rose above the ancient stone circle Stonehenge, marking the summer solstice.

About 20,000 people crowded the prehistoric site on Salisbury Plain, southern England, to see the sunrise at 4:52 A.M. (1152EST), after an annual all-night party.

The event typically draws thousands of alternative-minded revelers to the monument, as they wait for dawn at the Heel Stone, a pockmarked pillar just outside the circle proper, which aligns with the rising sun.

Today, hilariously ended cloudy.

Police said they had made 34 arrests, the majority for drug possession, and reported no serious problems.

Breaking News Updates

The Supreme Court (actually) Upholds Law Banning Support of Terror-Linked Groups

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a federal law that bars "material support" to foreign terrorist organizations, rejecting a free speech challenge from humanitarian aid groups.

The 6-3 ruling said that the government may prohibit all forms of aid to designated terrorist groups, even if the support consists of training and advice about entirely peaceful and legal activities.

Wow. 6-3. Serious.

Want to Read More?:

And - perhaps a related story? Eh, that might be a stretch?

N.J. Naval Base Under 'Lockdown' After Several Incidents Reported

DEVELOPING: LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Officials have locked down the Naval Air Engineering Center in Lakehurst, N.J.

Median Relations Coordinator Senior Airman David Carbajal says there were several incidents Monday which he is not yet able to provide more information about.

Carbajal says no shots were fired. No word on what an 'incident' is, either.

The lockdown means traffic can't get in or out of the base, which was where the airship Hindenberg exploded in 1937.

One of the base's main missions centers around equipment used to launch aircraft from aircraft carriers.

Sarah's Solutions

I'm so glad she's helping out. All those engineers were just getting in the way...
If you pray long and hard enough, the leak will eventually stop leaking. Guaranteed.

Jun 20, 2010

The Week In Review/Sunday Comics

How's that 'can do' attitude, Mr. Obama? How's that screaming and blaming Bush for everything working out now? Not so good, you say? Bummer.

BP, you could have shut Tony up a long, long time ago. He's probably done as much, if not more damage to your reputation than the damn oil spill. Then there was that whole "Little People" non-sense. Yeah, sure, mis-translation. Bull. Fine we're the little people. Then you're the idiot people.

Meanwhile, it was an interesting week for Democratic Congressmen and Democratic Congress hopefuls and video cameras... first there was Bob Etheridge assaulting a college kid who simply asked, "Do you support the President's agenda?" Guess those were fighting words, eh?
Which gives pause to those incumbents out there. We're waking up, we're paying attention, and you're on notice. Better start doing those phony baloney jobs of yours, Congressman.
In the Middle East, everyone's favorite kickball - no not Soccer - Israel! Got into trouble enforcing their blockade against Gaza. Well, that didn't work out too well in the court of public opinion. Not that anyone looked at it logically. Eh, what are you going to do? Damned if they board the boat, like they said they would - and rocket and ammunition to Gaza if you don't.

And speaking of the Middle East, Uncle Sam just came up with One Trillion reasons to stay in Afghanistan...
The Lakers won, again.
C’mon Los Angeles, you win an NBA championship every other year. Does winning still give you the urge to burn stuff? Grow up.

Oh, and today is Father's Day.
Great work, pops. See ya'll next week.