A Taste of Ipecac

Three for Three!

2012-02-01T11:18:00.000-05:00

Last night Rachel was notified of her acceptance to the University of Maryland, and specifically into the College Park Scholars program for academically talented freshman and sophomores. She’s now been accepted at Indiana University, James Madison University and Maryland. Auditions for theatre programs continue, including two this weekend as we travel to New York City!

One big reason Mormons SUCK

2012-01-27T14:44:00.000-05:00

Post-death “conversion” is a terrible practice of the Mormon church and an insult to the memories of those who have died. It doesn’t really hurt the person (they’re dead after all) but it’s twisted and wrong.

As we mentioned yesterday, Ann Romney's Welsh-born father (who Mitt mentioned in last night's debate to shore up his pro-immigrant bona fides) was an engineer, inventor, and resolute atheist who disdained all organized religion and raised his children accordingly. Davies, his son Roderick told the Boston Globe in 2007, regarded the faithful as "weak in the knees." But when Mitt began seeing Davies' daughter Ann, the Romney family launched a concerted effort to convert not only Ann but her entire family to Mormonism. And they were wildly successful: Within a year of meeting Ann, Mitt and his father had converted all three of Edward Davies' children. Days before she died in 1993, Ann Romney's mother asked to be converted as well. Edward Davies was the only member of his clan whose soul the Romneys never claimed for their church.

Until he died. According to this entry in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' genealogical database, Davies was baptized as a Mormon at a "special family meeting" 14 months after his death: "All ordinances except sealing to spouse performed in Salt Lake Temple on 19 Nov 1993 in special family meeting," the entry says. (When we previously asked the church whether Davies had been baptized, a spokesperson told us that the information was available only to his family and church members. But it's apparently right there on the internet for those who know what to look for.)

…

The Mormon church has repeatedly been criticized for its practice of trawling for dead souls to convert to the faith. Catholic and Jewish organizations have expressed outrage when the names of dead popes and Holocaust victims have turned up on Mormon lists of the baptized. In 1995, the church pledged to "discontinue any future baptisms of deceased Jews" except for direct descendents of living Mormons, tacitly acknowledging that its creepy and weird to claim the souls of people who had no interest in Mormonism for their own. It's strange that the Romney and Davies families didn't accord Edward Davies' memory the same respect. Link

Douchebags.

Stop hating! Mitt paid a much higher tax rate than you did and here's the proof!

2012-01-26T11:07:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Mitt Romney explained that he’s not paying only about 13% taxes on his tens of millions of dollars of annual earnings, it’s really more in the neighborhood of 50%!

RAMOS: You just released your tax returns. In 2010 you only paid 13 percent of taxes while most Americans paid much more than that. Is that fair?

ROMNEY: Well, actually, I released two years of taxes and I think the average is almost 15 percent. And then also, on top of that, I gave another more 15 percent to charity. When you add it together with all of the taxes and the charity, particularly in the last year, I think it reaches almost 40 percent that I gave back to the community. One of the reasons why we have a lower tax rate on capital gains is because capital gains are also being taxed at the corporate level. So as businesses earn profits, that’s taxed at 35 percent, then as they distribute those profits as dividends, that’s taxed at 15 percent more. So, all total, the tax rate is really closer to 45 or 50 percent.

RAMOS: But is it fair what you pay, 13 percent, while most pay much more than that?

ROMNEY: Well, again, I go back to the point that the, that the funds are being taxed twice at two different levels.

Yeah, that math adds up! 15% tax +15% charity (mostly to the Mormon Church) = 40% (charity also counts as taxation, right?). Plus the corporation itself (presumably) pays some taxes and Mitt gets to count that doesn’t he? So that adds another 5-10%. And that equals 50%!

Wow, what a horrible, oppressive fictional tax rate. We should give him a tax break, don’t you think?

Post State of the Union

2012-01-24T22:18:00.001-05:00

One of the best State of the Union speeches I've ever seen.

How anyone can call Obama a socialist or anti-American after this speech is beyond me. You could only say such a thing if you're ignoring reality. But then, people who say this have been ignoring reality for years.

State of the Union

2012-01-24T20:58:00.001-05:00

CNN's headline is "Stakes High for Obama Speech".

What a load. Given that the Republicans in Congress won't do ANYTHING that might give the President a victory, especially in this election year, the stakes couldn't be lower. Nothing the President proposes has a chance of passing. He's basically speaking to the American people in hopes that they'll get the message that at least he'd like to help.

The rich get richer

2012-01-24T11:06:00.000-05:00

So Mitt Romney finally wised up that he was taking a beating on the tax issue and released a whopping two years of tax returns.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney released tax records on Tuesday indicating he is paying $6.2 million in taxes on a total of $42.5 million in income over the years 2010 and 2011.

Bowing to increasing political pressure to provide more detail about his vast wealth, the former private equity executive released tax returns indicating he and his wife, Ann, paid an effective tax rate of 13.9 percent in 2010. They expect to pay a 15.4 percent rate when they file their returns for 2011. Link

No wonder Mitt didn’t want to release his tax returns. He’s paying a far lower percentage of his income than most middle class Americans. And it’s all investment income, which means that if his or Newt’s tax plans go into effect, he would pay even less in taxes.

Why should a fabulously rich guy pay a smaller percent in taxes than someone making $50,000 a year? In what universe is that a fair system?

Rick Santorum is a big fat coward

2012-01-23T16:32:00.000-05:00

When someone stands up at a townhall meeting and spins delusional conspiracy theories about the President of the United States, the man you hope to be running against in the upcoming election, don’t you have a duty to set her straight? Isn’t that the honorable thing to do?

Not if you’re a coward like Rick Santorum.

At a Rick Santorum town hall meeting in Lady Lake, Florida moments ago, a woman stood up to declare that she doesn’t like to refer to “President Obama as president because, legally, he is not.” While the audience gasped and clapped at the comment, Santorum restrained himself, refusing to utter a critical word.

The lady continued, Obama “totally ignores” the Constitution, prompting a nod of approval from Santorum. Then she went even further with her conspiracy rant:

He is an avowed Muslim. [applause] And my question is: why isn’t something being done to get him out of our government? He has no legal right to be calling himself President.

In an exemplary show of cowardice, Santorum did not tell the woman that she had her facts wrong or even bother to distance himself from the previous comments. Instead, he did the opposite, giving sanction to her views. “I’m doing my best to get him out” of office, Santorum said, “and you’re right about — he uniformly ignores the Constitution.” Link

Some leader.

In which I watch movies with entirely too much backal nudity

2012-01-23T11:14:00.000-05:00

For me, this was a weekend of chick flicks.

On Saturday, Rachel had some of her friends over and they brought a movie, 2011’s Friends with Benefits, starring the lovely Mila Kunis and the mega-talented Justin Timberlake. I watched the movie with them and found it surprisingly entertaining. The writing was clever and the dialogue sharp. The two leads are immensely appealing and while the plot was expectedly predictable, two friends decide they should have no-commitment sex because why not, and they fall in love, I enjoyed it. There was a little too much of Timberlake’s butt for my tastes and a good dose of simulated sex, definitely earning the R rating.

One of the plot points of the movie was that both main characters had mother issues. Timberlake’s mom had divorced his dad and disappeared a decade before and Kunis’ mom was a flightly hippie who wouldn’t tell her who her father was. After we saw the movie Rachel suggested that the movie had missed the boat on the most stunning plot twist of all time; Timberlake’s missing mom and Kunis’ mom should have turned out to be the same person, making Timberlake and Kunis brother and sister! (The remainder of the movie would just be Timberlake and Kunis vomiting over and over again.)

Such a twist would have been (a) awesome, (b) completely unexpected, (c) extremely shocking, and (d) awesome.

Last night, Carol, Rachel and I were looking for a movie to watch and they both wanted to watch 2003’s Love Actually. We downloaded the movie via DirecTV’s video-on-demand service. This is one of those movies, like the recent New Year’s Eve, which jumps back and forth between a dozen different storylines of romantic couples, love triangles, unrequited love and other rom-com plot variations. The movie stars pretty much everyone in England from Hugh Grant to Bill Nighy to Rowan Atkinson to Emma Thompson.

I wasn’t planning on watching the whole thing but it was entertaining enough to keep me around. Some stories worked better than others. I particularly enjoyed the subplot of a goofy young English guy who thought that the cure for his lack of success with women was to fly to Milwaukee and walk into any bar where his English accent would get him a woman. His success beyond his wildest dreams was pretty funny. I didn’t particularly enjoy the Martin Freeman subplot where he plays a stand-in for a porn star while the crew sets the lighting. I saw entirely too much of Martin Freeman’s butt, so much so that I’m rethinking seeing The Hobbit.

Now I need to watch me some Die Hard.

Worst week EVER (for Mitt)

2012-01-21T21:53:00.000-05:00

This has been a VERY BAD week for Mitt Romney. Probably one of the worst week's ever for a major party's frontrunner.

On Monday, Romney had won the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries, an unprecedented achievement, and was ahead by a large percentage in South Carolina. Now on Saturday, Rick Santorum has been declared the winner of Iowa and Newt Gingrich crushed him in South Carolina.

Republicans just don't like Mitt.

The South Carolinians have apparently decided they don't want a flip-flopping, utltra-rich, out of touch Gordon Gekko clone to be the nominee. They'd rather the Republican nominee be a thrice-married, race-baiting adulterer, who was fined $300,000 by the Congress for ethical violations before he was forced to resign in disgrace.

Great job picking candidates, Repubs.

Metro on a Friday night

2012-01-21T20:03:00.000-05:00

Last stop before home
Inbound trains heading for fun
Want to go to there

Oh my

2012-01-21T16:01:00.001-05:00

Did you hear that? That's the sound of a million Trekkies and board game enthusiasts heads exploding. Because come March, the first themed version of Settlers of Catan will be released, called Star Trek Catan. Set your faces to stunned. Link

Faces to stunned, indeed. Yeesh.

Yeah, I'm calling total BS on this

2012-01-21T12:50:00.003-05:00

“I get a kick out of folks who call for equality now, the people on the left, ‘Well, equality, we want equality.’ Where do you think this concept of equality comes from?” Santorum asked the enthusiastic crowd packed into a restaurant here. “It doesn’t come from Islam. It doesn’t come from the East and Eastern religions, where does it come from? It comes from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that’s where it comes from.”

Santorum then said that since equality comes from God, people should live “responsibly in conforming with God’s laws.”

So don’t claim his rights, don’t claim equality as that gift from God and then go around and say, ‘Well, we don’t have to pay attention to what God wants us to do. We don’t have to pay attention to God’s moral laws.’ If your rights come from God, then you have an obligation to live responsibly in conforming with God’s laws, and our founders said so, right?” Santorum asked. Link

Um, excuse me, Rick. From the Bible comes slavery, women and children as property, and inter-tribal hatred and murder. The Bible does NOT endorse equality.

The idea of Equality comes from the Enlightenment. You know, from us humans.

Dumbass.

A leader versus weak tea

2012-01-21T12:18:00.002-05:00

Rich man hurts only himself (and Republicans)

2012-01-19T21:50:00.001-05:00

Mitt Romney's stubborn and politically stupid refusal to release his tax returns seems to be costing him a lot of political capital. He was booed by Republicans at tonight's South Carolina debate. And these are people who had just cheered Newt Gingrich's adultery! Clearly the only reason Romney won't release them is he because he's embarrassed what they'll show.

The pressure to release them is only going to get worse and worse. He's being a complete idiot for holding out.

Out of touch

2012-01-19T10:15:00.000-05:00

2011 was a year when the political dialogue in America shifted from the phantom menace of deficits and debt to a much bigger problem, income inequality. Over the past thirty years, incomes at all levels have stagnated, except for the rich whose share of American wealth has skyrocketed. The American dream of income mobility is in real danger and millions of lower and middle class American families are suffering while the rich are doing better than they’ve ever done in America.

Against this backdrop, the Republican party is poised to nominate Mitt Romney as their Presidential candidate.

Romney made his millions from Bain Capital, a venture investment company that bought control of manufacturing companies, gutted the resources and pensions, and made millions of dollars while thousands of workers lost their jobs when the companies went bankrupt. For the tens of millions that Romney makes every year, he pays a tax rate of only around 15%, a far smaller percentage than most middle class and many lower class Americans pay. Romney dismissed the $375,000 he’s made over the past year in speaking fees, an amount that alone would put one in the top 1% of incomes in America, as “not very much.” On the campaign trail, Romney is so unaware of how he comes across that he’s claimed he’s among the middle class, suggested that he too is “unemployed” and that he’s had to worry about getting a “pink slip”. He’s also said that those who criticize him for being out of touch with the concerns of Americans are simply “envious” of him.

Romney is not only part of the 1%, he is so rich that he’s among the top 1% of the 1%.

At a time when a majority of Americans identify income inequality as the biggest problem with the American economic and political systems, when millions of Americans can’t find a job, are losing their homes, have no health insurance, and have gotten little help from Congress, the Republicans are about to nominate Gordon Gekko as their standard-bearer.

How out of touch can you get?

Ask the Atheist - Part the first, "Atheists Hate God"

2012-01-16T14:13:00.000-05:00

This is the first in a new series of posts to address some common questions and misconceptions believers seem to have about atheists. I'm no philosopher or great thinker, but I have seen many of these arguments laid out as I've made my journey to non-belief and I think I'm reasonably qualified to answer some of these ideas.

This first one is an often-heard assertion made when believers are discussing atheists.

Atheists hate God.

This is one of those statements I find silly. If you're a believer, I would ask you:

Do you hate Darth Vader?

Do you hate Hannibal Lecter?

Do you hate Sauron?

After all, these are evil beings who have tortured and killed many people.

Of course no one really hates Vader, Hannibal and Sauron, because it's irrational to hate fictional characters. You might not like the stories with these characters and you might not aesthetically enjoy the characters, but it doesn't make any sense to hate something that doesn't exist. Well, that's how atheists feel about hating God; hating a fictional character makes no sense.

Of course, many believers just can't get their mind around the fact that atheists don't believe in God. They think we're lying or fooling ourselves; that deep down we really do believe God exists and so we must hate him.

And of course that's completely untrue. I take Christians' word for it when they say they believe in the virgin birth, Jesus' miracles, original sin and the coming Armageddon, despite my utter disdain for these concepts. I ask the same from them, that they take my word that I don't believe in God. Any god.

And since I don't believe any god exists, I don't hate any god.

Once again, Newt thinks the laws don't apply to him

2012-01-15T18:40:00.000-05:00

Republican Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, in Sunday's FOX News Forum in South Carolina unloaded this whopper.

“I think an intelligent conservative wants the right federal employees delivering the right services in a highly efficient way and then wants to get rid of those folks who are in fact wasteful, or those folks who are ideologically so far to the left, or those people who want to frankly dictate to the rest of us,” Gingrich said in response to a question from a federal employee at the forum ." Link

In addition to being explicitly illegal, such a move would be, at the risk of Godwinning this post, rather Nazi-esque. I would hope no "intelligent" conservative would want the entire federal workforce employed at the whim of whatever party happened to be in power. Of course, I'm no longer sure there is such a thing as an intelligent conservative, if the Republican Presidential candidates are their best and brightest.

Fun with PS!

2012-01-15T12:50:00.002-05:00

Hey! It turns out, Rachel isn't the only member of my family who's met the President!

Now she has a choice of colleges

2012-01-14T12:18:00.000-05:00

Rachel has been accepted to a second college. First was Indiana University, although she didn't get into the BFA program. Now she's been accepted at James Madison University.

All of her acceptances just mean she gets into the college. She has separate auditions for the musical theatre programs she wants to take. In fact, she's at one such audition right now.

It's so much easier if you plan to major in something that doesn't have an additional application process. I know it was a lot more easier when I did it.

More as the story develops . . .

In which I eat an awesome burger and we meet some special friends

2012-01-13T23:48:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday morning we got ambitious and all drove to Rachel's dance class at 10AM so afterwards we could go to Ray's Hell Burger in Arlington! The atmosphere was minimal but the burgers, fries and my blueberry shake were all great. I can't wait to go again.

Oh, yeah. There were also a couple of special guests there. Rachel took a picture with them.

The guy on the left is Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. Then Rachel. I think you'll recognize the guy on the right.

Fun, fun times.

Ipecac who?

2012-01-13T00:10:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the slow trickle of posts. Some busy stuff going on at work.

More posts soon.

The very first Hobbit Movie and a cool page

2012-01-09T21:29:00.001-05:00

Just a couple of quick things to pass the time.

First up, the very first Hobbit movie ever committed to film!

In 1966, animator Gene Deitch collaborated with Czech illustrator Adolf Born to create the very first film version of The Hobbit. This version — which took some sizable creative liberties with J.R.R. Tolkien's original story — never saw the light of day. Link

Fascinating!

And this is kind of a cool blast from the past. The Restart Page. Feel free to click any of the links. They won't actually restart your computer.

Because education is a bad thing?

2012-01-07T16:29:00.000-05:00

Yeah, this makes zero sense.

Suck on it, Republicans

2012-01-04T22:43:00.001-05:00

So after Senate Republicans have consistently taken the unprecedented step of keeping the Senate technically in session to circumvent the law and stop President Obama from appointing badly needed agency heads for such federal agencies as the National Labor Relations Board and the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, President Obama finally said enough is enough and appointed them anyway. (The CFPB head has been appointed, the Labor Relations board members will follow.)

The Republicans are, of course, whining like babies.

But recess appointments are nothing new and are Constitutionally allowed. In fact, President Obama has used the power far less than his predecessors (probably due to Republican obstructionism).

So suck it Republicans. You don't like it? Stop obstructing the country's business.

Wankers.

Santorum's Character

2012-01-04T10:27:00.000-05:00

I was just reading an analysis of the Iowa caucuses and this line caught my eye:

Santorum does best among those voters prioritizing abortion as an issue and “strong moral character” as a candidate attribute.

Strong moral character? I think these people have a VERY different definition of strong moral character than I do.

Here are some Santorum positions that I view as NOT evincing strong moral character:

- Rick Santorum wants states to be allowed to ban contraception.

- Rick Santorum does not believe that mutually consenting adults have the right to privacy when it comes to their sexual conduct.

- Rick Santorum wants to ban all abortions, even in the case of incest and rape, and supports jailing doctors who perform them.

- Rick Santorum compared gay sex to bestiality, specifically “man on dog” sex.

- Rick Santorum supports breaking up families (including separating children from parents) if the parents illegally entered the country decades ago.

- Rick Santorum supports the assassination of foreign scientists working in their country’s nuclear programs.

- Rick Santorum has lied about the effects of the stimulus, saying that it cost jobs instead of created them.

- Rick Santorum supports torture.

- Rick Santorum believes that gays should be banned from adopting children.

NONE of that sounds like “strong moral character” to me. Frankly, it sounds more like fascism.

(It should also be noted that almost every single Republican candidate also supports almost every one of the above positions.)

A "Frothy Mix" of Conservatism!

2012-01-03T23:08:00.001-05:00

Wow, Iowans really love Santorum!

Stand back, Mitt Romney, IT IS ON!

2012-01-03T19:32:00.000-05:00

Oh, snap! Republican Presidential candidate Rick "don't Google me" Santorum, desperate to win in Iowa, has decided to one-up Mitt Romney on the stupidity meter!

Speaking on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday, Santorum was asked by George Stephanopoulos to explain his comment at a rally in Iowa on Monday that in international conflicts, Obama has “sided with our enemies on almost every single one.”

Santorum doubled down on his comments, saying Obama has “appeased and pandered” on the international stage and that the killing of bin Laden in Pakistan, presented as a foreign-policy success by the White House, was set in motion by the Bush administration.

Santorum said that operations to kill bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders were “missions that were defined” by the Bush administration.” Obama “simply went on and executed those decisions,” he said. Link

Obama is siding with our enemies! Bush is responsible for killing Osama Bin Laden and he did it a couple of years after he left office!

Yes, that Santorum is indeed Presidential material. Republicans, you should be proud.

Also, Obama hates apple pie

2012-01-03T12:39:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Republican Presidential candidate and front-runner, Mitt Romney, said this:

"I think president Obama wants to make us a European style welfare state, where instead of being a merit society we're an entitlement society, where government's role is to take from some and give to others," Romney told the crowd.

"What I know is if they do that, they'll substitute envy for ambition, and they'll poison the very spirit of America and keep us from being one nation under God." Link

This statement is so inane, so silly, so utterly deluded, that it should cause anyone seriously considering this man as Presidential material to have their head examined. Mitt is simply lying (aka making crap up off the top of his head) and fear-mongering to pander to the conservative base to win the Iowa caucuses.

But then, this is Mitt Romney so it’s not really surprising.

I'm back! Thoughts on recent travels.

2012-01-03T12:29:00.000-05:00

I’m now back home after a nice winter break. A few thoughts on our Christmas adventure to Indiana.

- My favorite thing while traveling is spending more time with my children.

- If you want to see some empty roads, travel major interstate highways on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. I have NEVER seen the major arteries between Maryland and Indiana as empty as they were late on those evenings. It was downright eerie. I had to drive at the speed limit because there was no one else on the road to provide cover.

- Bub’s Burgers in Carmel, Indiana, (featured on Man v. Food) is an excellent place to eat.

- I don’t like waking up early to go to work, but I REALLY don’t like waking up early during vacation.

- It’s really nice to see family, and especially nice not to discuss politics with them. I would LOVE nothing more than for us to agree on what’s happening in this country and the solutions, but when we discussed politics on our visit last June, some of my family members brought up the ridiculously untrue “Obama has taken more vacations than any President in modern history” and “the poor don’t have any skin in the game so we should raise their taxes” arguments, so there’s little hope that they’d ever agree with me on the issues.

- I always take my Netbook and have high hopes to make some blog postings, but rarely does it work out that way. Also, having access to a wireless network has become incredibly important to all of us.

- My family, many of whom only play games when we visit, are all pretty good gamers.

- Travel always rejuvenates me and makes me long to get things done.

- Returning safely home to an undisturbed house is a great feeling. I always enjoying bringing the house back to life when we return.

I hope everyone had fun holidays.

Now that was unexpected

2011-12-25T15:16:00.000-05:00

We're in a theatre to see TinTin and just saw a commercial for Ticket to Ride. The Euro game, Ticket to Ride. Holy crap!

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-24T14:00:00.000-05:00

Is that a beautiful tree or what?

Priorities

2011-12-23T21:07:00.000-05:00

This chart says an awful lot. Link

McCain on the failure to pass the payroll tax cut

2011-12-22T11:00:00.000-05:00

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) echoed those concerns in an interview on CNN tonight, warning a resolution to the standoff must be found.

“It seems to me that Republican leaders and Harry Reid and the Speaker and Congresswoman [Nancy] Pelosi should sit down together with the administration and figure out a way through this,” the Arizona Republican said. “It is harming the Republican Party. It is harming the view, if it’s possible, any more of the American people about Congress. And we’ve got to get this thing resolved.”

Yeah, knock it off House Republicans! You're hurting the Republican party!

You'll notice that he doesn't seem to be at all concerned about the real victims of the House Republicans' behavior, lower and middle income AMERICANS.

Thought for the day

2011-12-22T00:40:00.000-05:00

If prayer worked . . .

It would be empirically demonstrable that those who prayed were healthier, happier, and more secure than those who don't pray.

And if one religion were the true religion . . .

It would be empirically demonstrable that those who prayed under that religion were healthier, happier, and more secure than those who don't pray to that religion.

And since it would be empirically demonstrable that particular prayer worked, all people would quickly notice this and flock to that religion.

But there are thousands of religions and the people of no one religion are empirically demonstrably healthier, happier and more secure than the people of any other religion or even no religion.

Draw your own conclusion.

Pure Awesome

2011-12-20T22:12:00.001-05:00

Hobbit Trailer in half an hour!!!

2011-12-20T21:31:00.003-05:00

Streaming at Apple Trailers at 10PM EST!

Chasing Hobbits! Chasing Hobbits! Chasing Hobbits! Chasing Hobbits!

In which I am sorely irritated and bewail an annoying development

2011-12-20T15:50:00.000-05:00

AAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!

Prepare for pigs to fly and hell to freeze over

2011-12-20T13:08:00.000-05:00

It’s finally happened. The House Republicans found a tax cut they don’t like.

The payroll tax cut that puts money back into the pockets of lower and middle class families is due to expire at the end of the year and the House refuses to vote on the bipartisan version that the Senate approved.

Why would they do this? Because the Senate Republicans didn’t use this critical measure to take enough hostages. They got by with forcing the President to make a quick decision on the super-polluting Keystone XL pipeline and defunding light bulb efficiency standards but that wasn’t sufficient for House Republicans. While they’re claiming that they’re objecting because the tax cut is only extended for two months, allowing for further negotiations in the meantime, the real reason is that the House Republicans want to add more right wing social legislation before they’ll do the right thing for Americans.

This is the exact same strategy they’ve been using for months - when government funding ran out, when the debt ceiling came up - to force through far right legislation. They care more about party politics than helping out lower and middle income Americans.

Meant to post this earlier, but forgot

2011-12-20T10:05:00.000-05:00

Scientists have isolated a gene in mice that works to give them "super memories" and reverses the course of several degenerative mental illnesses like Alzheimer's. And because of the similarity of mice and human brains, a powerful brain pill for humans may now not be far off.

The brains of both mice and humans release a gene known as PKR, which is triggered by the onset of Alzheimer's. But the newly discovered gene can apparently block PKR's release--a development that not only can reverse the course of degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer's, but induces a state of "super memory" in the mice it has been tested on.

"If we were to find an inhibitor, a molecule, a drug that will specifically block PKR, we should be able to do the same [in humans]," Maura Costa-Mattioli, who led the research study at Baylor University, told the Vancouver Sun. "And we did." Link

Wow, would this be incredible. It would cure a horrible, wasting disease that robs people of their very identity. My grandfather had Alzheimer’s and it was pretty horrific. This would also be a huge benefit for people whose memory just isn’t very good. Mine is often quite bad and I worry somewhat that I may be headed towards greater problems down the road. Knowing that there could be a treatment is very encouraging.

And . . . Gingrich implodes

2011-12-18T13:29:00.003-05:00

So if you think Herman Cain's implosion was spectacular, this is REALLY jumping the shark.

With just weeks to go before the Iowa Caucus, Newt Gingrich has turned his presidential campaign into a veritable megaphone warning about the dangers and elitism of America's judicial system. The former House Speaker held a half-hour phone call on Saturday during which he pledged to abolish courts and eliminated activist judges he believed were either outside the mainstream or infringing too deeply on the commander in chief's authority.

On Sunday, he followed that up by saying he would be willing to arrest a judge who he thought was out of line.

"If you had to," he said on CBS's "Face the Nation" when asked if he would send a Capitol Hill police officer to round up a judge, "or you would instruct the Justice Department to send the U.S. Marshal." His preference, he added, would be to impeach the judge in question. Link

Yeah, you might want to reread the Constitution, Newt. You probably want to bone up on your reading comprehension skills as well.

Saying the above really suggests that Newt doesn't want to be President.

Hobbity Goodness!

2011-12-16T22:39:00.000-05:00

The first trailer will be streamed the night of December 20 at 10PM. Can't wait!

[Image courtesy of Crazycritics via Empire via ComingSoon]

More than famous. In-famous.

2011-12-16T11:16:00.000-05:00

I have to say, this article, and the comments that followed it, put a big grin on my face this morning.

In a way, all of us has an El Guapo to face. For some, shyness might be their El Guapo. For others, a lack of education might be their El Guapo. For us, El Guapo is a big, dangerous man who wants to kill us. But as sure as my name is Lucky Day, the people of Santa Poco can conquer their own personal El Guapo, who also happens to be *the actual* El Guapo!

Words to live by.

RIP Christopher Hitchens

2011-12-16T09:23:00.000-05:00

Writer, thinker, and Atheist, Christopher Hitchens died of cancer yesterday. Always a controversial figure, he kept writing until the very end, reflecting on his illness and how he was handling it as a non-believer. A powerful voice against superstition, his absence will be strongly felt by all who followed his work.

Wankers at work

2011-12-15T23:11:00.004-05:00

So it looks like Congress may have reached a deal to avoid a government shutdown. That's the good news.

It also looks like they're dropping the proposed surtax on millionaires but may have agreed to extend the pay freeze on non-millionaire government workers.

Farging Iceholes.

People are so amazing

2011-12-15T16:36:00.000-05:00

I find this quite mind-blowing. People can be just awesomely talented.

(I'm not so much a fan of the musical accompaniment, however.)

Faber Castell from eric yeo on Vimeo.

Graphic proof that FOX News sucks

2011-12-14T21:52:00.001-05:00

Within a couple of days of each other, the graphics below appeared on FOX News. In both cases, they demonstrate a hilarious ineptitude and bias. THESE ARE NOT FAKED.

This first one is a twofer, showing both poor math skills and FOX's inability to give the President credit for anything. Can you see it? Check out the November unemployment number and it's position on the graph.

This second graphic shows just how much FOX News hates Mitt Romney.

Frustrating Day

2011-12-14T21:33:00.000-05:00

Geez, I hate this kind of nonsense.

First, my bus didn't show up this morning, which meant that instead of a five minute wait in the cold I waited thirty-five minutes until I was picked up.

Then, the bus was 20 minutes late this evening, by which time Carol had been called to swing by from dropping off Ben and pick me up.

Then, I went into Target to pick up a prescription for Carol and the boneheaded guy who was helping me apparently stroked out, leaving me standing around glaring at him for thirty minutes. (He said he was getting the prescription and told me several times it would just be a minute but then apparently forgot. Someone else eventually helped me.)

AUUUUUGGGGHHHH!!!

Think about it (yet again)

2011-12-14T13:19:00.000-05:00

This afternoon, Senate Republicans voted for a long-standing priority of theirs, a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. It failed due to Democratic opposition. What would be the result if such an amendment were to pass?

As Macroeconomic Advisers and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities made clear last month:

If the 2012 budget were balanced through spending cuts, those cuts would total about $1.5 trillion in 2012 alone, the analysis estimates. Those cuts would throw about 15 million more people out of work, double the unemployment rate from 9 percent to approximately 18 percent, and cause the economy to shrink by about 17 percent instead of growing by an expected 2 percent. Link

Let’s say that again. The Republicans voted for something that would DOUBLE the unemployment rate and shrink the economy by about 17 percent. It would also shred Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

So why would anyone vote for these clowns again?

Democrats and Republicans are just the same, aren't they?

2011-12-13T22:59:00.002-05:00

The next time you hear the "false equivalency" argument that in blocking the President's agenda, Congressional Republicans are just doing the same thing that the Democrats did during Bush, take a look a this chart.

This is a historical level of obstructionism, never seen before. And in the middle of the greatest recession in decades, a crime against the American people.

More lies

2011-12-13T22:24:00.000-05:00

One of the current Republican talking points is that the Obama Administration is burying business in America under an unprecedented avalanche of regulations. They've used this to justify attempts to gut pretty much all federal regulations, from the new consumer finance regs enacted after Wall Street screwed us all over to the Clean Air Act.

The thing is, it's not true:

Obama’s White House approved 613 federal rules during the first 33 months of his term, 4.7 percent fewer than the 643 cleared by President George W. Bush’s administration in the same time frame, according to an Office of Management and Budget statistical database reviewed by Bloomberg. Link

Gee, more regulations under Bush. Do you suppose the Republicans were complaining about it then?

Of course, the Republicans lying about the President's record is nothing new.

Just remember and don't reward them for it next November.

DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK TO THE MOST AWESOME WEBSITE EVER!

2011-12-10T16:28:00.001-05:00

Link

I know you are but what am I? (Presidential Edition)

2011-12-09T08:59:00.000-05:00

When I was in Indiana over the summer visiting family, one of my relatives raised the Republican talking point that “Obama has taken more vacation days than any other President,” as evidence that the President was lazy or disengaged or something. This argument is, of course, one of the many Bizarro Republican memes that takes something for which George W. Bush was criticized and applies it to the President, no matter how outlandish. I don’t blame my relative as he undoubtedly heard the lie repeated hundreds of times on FOX News. And now, Presidential candidate Mitt Romney just raised a similar criticism by attacking the President for playing “too much golf”. Link

For the record, at this point in their presidencies:

Obama: 11 vacations, totaling all or part of 70 days. 22 visits to Camp David, totaling all or part of 54 days.

Bush: 28 visits to his Texas ranch, totaling all or part of 207 days. 72 visits to Camp David, totally all or part of 228 days.

Bush had taken nearly FOUR TIMES as much vacation at this point in his Presidency as Obama has.

The President gets it exactly right

2011-12-06T21:38:00.001-05:00

Now, just as there was in Teddy Roosevelt’s time, there’s been a certain crowd in Washington for the last few decades who respond to this economic challenge with the same old tune. “The market will take care of everything,” they tell us. If only we cut more regulations and cut more taxes – especially for the wealthy – our economy will grow stronger. Sure, there will be winners and losers. But if the winners do really well, jobs and prosperity will eventually trickle down to everyone else. And even if prosperity doesn’t trickle down, they argue, that’s the price of liberty.

It’s a simple theory – one that speaks to our rugged individualism and healthy skepticism of too much government. And that theory fits well on a bumper sticker. Here’s the problem: It doesn’t work. It has never worked. It didn’t work when it was tried in the decade before the Great Depression. It’s not what led to the incredible post-war boom of the 50s and 60s. And it didn’t work when we tried it during the last decade. Link

Yep. And until we get over this stupid trickle down, favor the wealthy nonsense, we're not going to see economic growth, stability or the survival of the middle class.

What are you waiting for??

2011-12-05T11:36:00.000-05:00

So if the Wealthy in America are the “job creators” and unemployment is still high while taxes are the lowest they’ve been in decades, then WHY THE HECK AREN’T THEY CREATING ANY JOBS?!? The conservative talking point suggests that the wealthy job creators are absolutely key to ending our economic woes.

So get off your rich butts and do it already.

Or is it possible that the talking point is incorrect and reality is more complicated than that? That perhaps the talking point is merely to protect the rich from paying their fair share of taxes and we are actually in a bad economy due to depressed consumer demand, which tends to happen when millions of people lose their jobs. You know, like Keynesian economics predicts?

Triumph of the Will

2011-12-04T15:34:00.000-05:00

During my Staycation a couple of months ago, I watched "Triumph of the Will", a propaganda film about the 1934 NAZI party congress and rally at Nuremberg, made at Hiter's behest by Leni Riefenstahl. The film can be found on YouTube with English subtitles here.

Triumph is widely recognized as the first modern documentary and a masterwork of film-making and propaganda. Roger Ebert reviewed it in his series of "Great Movies". Interestingly, when he revisited the film in 2008, what had seemed decades before like a masterpiece struck Ebert as "a terrible film, paralyzingly dull, simpleminded, overlong and not even "manipulative," because it is too clumsy to manipulate anyone but a true believer. It is not a "great movie" in the sense that the other films in this group are great, but it is "great" in the reputation it has and the shadow it casts."

This was the first time I ever saw Triumph and I found it fascinating. The NAZIs knew how to create a spectacle which made their horrific philosophy appear legitimate, even heroic and inspirational. One can understand how the images of hundreds of thousands of Germans acting in unison would instill nationalistic fervor in pre-war Germans. All the footage was carefully calculated to produce a particular response. Racial politics are only mentioned once, when one of Hitler's functionaries refers to racial "purity". They weren't advertising their full-blown genocidal intentions just yet.

I found the "pre-rally" footage to be especially interesting, with thousands of tents lined up to house the participants, giving us a too-brief glimpse of camp life. The shots of shirtless German youth in their absurd pulled-high shorts washing each other seems hilariously homo-erotic in a culture that despised gays.

As Ebert says, the film is slow and overlong, filled with endless shots of buildings, rows of people, and speeches. But its power is clear.

It's disturbing to know that even as this happy, optimistic and sanitized rally was occurring, millions of Germans were already being imprisoned, tortured and murdered while Germany prepared for war. The film also produces mixed emotions with the realization that a short eleven years later, most of the people pictured would be dead due to the very things they're celebrating in the film.

If you're interested in history, Triumph is well worth your time.

The most sacred right of Americans

2011-12-03T17:12:00.001-05:00

Across the country, Republican dominated state legislatures have been passing measures to make voting more difficult; restricting early voting, requiring picture ID, attacking the Voting Rights Act. They've been doing this under the guise of preventing voter fraud, which is virtually nonexistent across the United States. It just isn't a problem worthy of this much attention.

Of course, the real result of these laws is to restrict voting by undesirable elements of society. You know, those who might vote "liberal". Don't believe me? Some state legislatures have EXPLICITLY admitted that they're trying to disenfranchise students and minorities.

So how big a problem is this? Here's a chart showing the effect of voter ID laws from the report "A reversal in progress: Restricting voting rights for electoral gain".

If you're a Republican, ask yourself: Is it right to disenfranchise millions of Americans so Republicans can win elections? If it's not, then maybe you should be rethinking who you're voting for.

Na na na na

2011-12-03T12:37:00.001-05:00

It seems likely that Herman Cain will exit the Presidential race today.

The spectacular flame out of his campaign raises two interesting points. One, Herman Cain is so narcissistic that he believed he could survive this highly public process despite multiple sexual harassment incidents and a 13 year long affair that he ended just before the campaign started.

And two, the Republican base doesn't really care if a man sexually harasses multiple women, but if he has an affair, that's too much.

Stupid, stupid parents

2011-12-02T10:12:00.000-05:00

This item from my hometown paper just infuriates me.

The school system reported 13 cases of chicken pox among students since mid-November. According to the Elkhart County Health Department, in consultation with the Indiana State Department of Health, that qualifies as an outbreak. The county health department instructed the school system that unvaccinated students may not attend school until three weeks after the last reported case.

…
Conner said he knows several parents are frustrated with the health department’s response, calling it an act of “Big Brother.”
…
Mike Boval, who said his children are not vaccinated because of religious beliefs, said he’s concerned that some students might miss so much school that they can’t proceed to the next grade. Andrea Boval said she wants her children to contract chicken pox when they’re young so they don’t get it when they’re adults. “I wanted to expose them to it the natural way,” she said.
…
Brian Stutzman, founder of Abundant Life Ministries, said he has four children in Middlebury schools, and the two youngest have chicken pox now. He said that it’s not right for governmental units to take decisions away from parents. “These decisions are highly important and do affect many lives,” he said. Link

First off, big kudos for the Health Department for doing the right thing and keeping the unvaccinated away from school. That’s the right thing to do.

Second, exposing your children to a potentially fatal disease that they will have to suffer through rather than giving them a perfectly safe, side-effect free vaccination which will prevent their suffering, makes you not only a very bad parent and a heartless git, but a total idiot. Chicken pox is completely avoidable. No good comes of forcing your children to suffer in this way.

What’s more, you’re not just making your own kids suffer, you’re ENDANGERING other kids at the school. There is a chance that even vaccinated kids could come down with the disease if exposed to the live virus. “These decisions are highly important and do affect many lives,” says Mike Boval. Exactly. They affect the lives of other children, not just your own. Arguably, you may have the right to risk the lives of your own children, but you don’t have the right to endanger mine.

Get over your stupid selves, get over your stupid selfish beliefs, take your head out of your butt and do the right thing. If not for your own kids, then for the other kids who do have smart parents that get them vaccinated.

Dumbasses.

There are still a few sane Republicans

2011-12-01T20:18:00.001-05:00

Former Republican Senator, Episcopal priest, and George W. Bush Administration Ambassador to the UN, John Danforth, on the poor quality of the Republican Presidential field. Link

What have been the big applause lines in these debates? Well, a statement that the governor of Texas is responsible for killing 234 people on death row. Or that we favor torture. Or that we’re creating a fence on the Mexican border that electrocutes people when they try to cross it. Or when people show up at the emergency room at hospitals and they’re not insured don’t treat them. And that, I mean these are the big applause lines, people just hoop and holler when they hear all that. [...]

It doesn’t have anything to do with the republican party that I was a part of. This is just totally different. And all of these people who are saying this, y’know, and claiming that, y’know, they’re for all this stuff, they also sort of ostentatiously say, “Oh, we’re very religious people. We really, we’re just very pious, Christian people.” They were for torture, and electrocution of the people on along the border and all of that. That doesn’t have anything to do with, is contrary to the Christianity that I understand.

Amen to that.

Misplaced priorities and attacks on the Middle Class

2011-12-01T19:59:00.001-05:00

If you follow politics and finances, you'll know that one of the recent measures taken to stimulate the economy was to lower the payroll tax rate. Nearly all workers in America pay the payroll tax which goes to fund social security. The tax cut reduced the payroll tax for everyone, putting more money in people's pockets, especially those in the lower and middle class.

The tax cut is due to expire at year's end, which means that the average American family will end up paying about $1000 more in taxes next year while the economy is still fragile. After much pushing from the President to extend the tax cut, Congress is taking it up and, unlike in the past when such tax holidays were passed without offsets, looking for a way to pay for continuing the tax cut.

Let's see if we can highlight the difference between the two parties.

The Democrats want to pay for the tax cut by a small percentage increase in the tax rate for people making over $1 million per year.

The Republicans want to pay for the tax cut by freezing the salaries of federal workers through 2015.

The last time I checked, the vast majority of federal workers were middle class, with families, mortgages, car payments, and the like. No one on the federal payroll is making over $1 million a year. I myself am about to start paying for my daughter to attend college and while I'm confident we'll manage, it's not like it won't be a bit of a challenge. Federal workers, paid less than their private industry counterparts, are already losing money every year by being under an ongoing wage freeze.

The last time I checked, those making over $1 million per year didn't have to worry about anything, money wise. They can do whatever they want and are already paying historically low tax rates.

In conclusion: Republicans, FUCK YOU.

Lefty update redux

2011-11-30T22:29:00.001-05:00

You may recall that I've been having some trouble with my right arm. In case you don't, the goings-on are documented here - I am now a lefty and here - Lefty update.

The two weeks of arm immobilization were unsuccessful. It wasn't enough time for my arm to heal and no progress was made. So I stopped wearing the cast and went to a wrist brace. This one, in fact:

By preventing me from flexing my wrist, the brace allows the tendons around my elbow to heal. I bought the brace at Wal-Mart and it's pretty comfortable and easy to use. I've been wearing it for a few weeks now and it seems to be helping. It definitely reduces pain during the day and I believe the pain is lessening overall. I've also started weekly physical therapy where my arm gets massaged and pressured. I'll probably take another couple of sessions and then just do the therapy myself.

I'll be wearing the brace for another six to eight weeks. Hopefully by then my arm will have healed. Failing that, the next steps are more aggressive (and more expensive).

Edited to add: (Oh, yeah. Don't tell anyone but I actually think the brace makes me look kind of cool.)

The shame of Minnesota

2011-11-30T20:41:00.001-05:00

Look, I realize that it's not remotely surprising that Michele Bachmann has no grasp of rudimentary science, biology or well, pretty much anything. But the comment below still blew up my stupid detector, so here it is:

I think what you’re advocating for is censorship on the part of government. So the government would prohibit intelligent design from even the possibility of being taught in questioning the issueof evolution. And if you look at scientists there is not a unanimity of agreement on the origins of life. … Why would we forstall any particular theory? Becuase I don’t think that even evolutionists, by and large, would say that this is proven fact. They say that this is a theory, as well as intelligent design. So I think the best thing to do is to let all scientific facts on the table, and let students decide. Link

Yes, because teaching well accepted scientific fact and NOT teaching the fake, unsupported religious version is censorship, and letting students decide what is scientifically true makes a whole lot of sense.

What a total dumbass.

Adultery Schmaschmultery

2011-11-29T11:52:00.000-05:00

So Republican candidate Herman Cain had a 13 year affair with a woman. Will this hurt him? Probably. Although I’m not sure why. The new Republican front-runner, Newt Gingrich, had several adulterous affairs, including one while his wife was battling cancer. And these affairs were all known for years before he became the front-runner.

If there’s one thing Republican primary voters are good at, it’s ignoring ethical and moral failings in their own candidates while condemning those on the Democratic side.

Next up on the list of things that suck . . .

2011-11-28T22:52:00.001-05:00

The Burzynski clinic, based in Houston, Texas.

This "clinic" features mega-expensive cancer "treatments" that have not been approved by the FDA and have not been proven to work in ANY clinical trials. To hide this, the clinic threatens to sue high school students who point out these facts. The clinic's attorney actually issued a veiled physical threat by e-mailing the student a Google Map satellite view of the student's house.

The Burzynski clinic is a fraud, bilking desperate, ill people out of their money, giving them false hope and directing them away from treatments that actually save lives.

Burzynski’s published research has been criticised by oncologists and scientists alike. Dr Howard Ozer, director of the Allegheny Cancer Center in Philadelphia, called the research “scientific nonsense”. Independent studies failed to replicate Burzynski’s results, suggesting there may be a strong bias in Burzynski’s research. The FDA have not approved the treatment for any diseases. A 2004 analysis of evidence for a number of alternative treatments for cancer, including Burzynski’s own antineoplaston therapy, said that “The label “unproven” is inappropriate for such therapies; it is time to assert that many alternative cancer therapies have been “disproven.”” In short, it’s quackery – ineffective treatment promoted as effective and sold for a very high price.

These frauds should be run out of business and prosecuted.

Other fun posts about this clinic here and here. I love it when the Internet comes together to smack down some scumbags.

The Muppets

2011-11-28T16:07:00.000-05:00

We saw The Muppets last night.

Major props to Jason Segel for championing the Muppets to Disney and using his star power to get this movie made. It took a lot of thought to make the Muppets relevant again in today’s CGI world and they did a wonderful job. The movie was clever and funny with an old-fashioned story that was the perfect vehicle for the slightly satiric, self-referential Muppet take on movies. The music and performances were great and the production values at the typical Muppet high level of artistry. Basically, the movie was a love letter to the Muppets and it worked.

Ben didn’t want to go at all but seemed to love it, laughing loudly (as he is wont to do) many times. There are a whole bunch of celebrity cameos and several of them were very important to Ben.

You know a movie is good when it can choke you up over the emotional turmoil of a character made of felt with a hand up his backside.

Sure I killed someone, but I saved $20!!

2011-11-27T16:41:00.001-05:00

What the hell is wrong with us? Is a cheap waffle maker, DVD or video game worth this?

This is a Texas Wal-Mart on Black Friday and a woman was almost crushed to death.

The next time someone elevates Americans over the rest of the uncivilized world, show them this video.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T00:10:00.001-05:00

Here's our Thanksgiving dinner, prepared mostly by Carol with some small help from the rest of us. (I made the mashed potatoes). Not shown: dinner rolls.

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback SUCKS!

2011-11-24T19:21:00.001-05:00

Emma Sullivan’s trip to Topeka with other high school students to learn about government taught her a few unexpected lessons:

• Gov. Sam Brownback’s office monitors social media for postings containing the governor’s name.
...
All that resulted from a tweet the Shawnee Mission East High School senior wrote Monday during Brownback’s greeting to young people who were brought in for a closer look at the political process.

“Just made mean comments at gov. brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot,” Sullivan thumbed from the back of the crowd.

Brownback’s director of communication wasn’t amused when the tweet was spotted during the routine daily monitoring of comments on Twitter and Facebook mentioning the governor’s name.
...
Sullivan says things developed quickly: She landed in the principal’s office for a scolding that lasted nearly an hour. She says she was told the “not so nice” comments had embarrassed her school and the district and that “damage control” with the governor’s office was the next step.

So Shawnee Mission East is forcing her to write an apology to the governor’s office, with the principal even giving her talking points to hit. Link

So the esteemed Governor has his staff monitoring social media and when a high school student says he sucks, they tattle on her to the principal. And the principal is so thin-skinned that he makes her write a letter of apology.

So much for the 1st Amendment.

So let me just say it again.

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback:

You SUCK, SUCK, SUCK, SUCK, SUCK, SUCK, SUCK, SUCK.

Coolest Easter Egg EVER!

2011-11-23T14:13:00.001-05:00

The best show on TV, Community, is currently in its third season. A sharp viewer somewhere noticed that once per season, one of the characters said "Beetlejuice". And once someone says Beetlejuice three times, what happens?

Hint: Watch the background. That easter egg took three YEARS to set up and complete. Awesome.

The Stimulus is still working

2011-11-23T09:31:00.000-05:00

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said Tuesday that President Obama’s 2009 stimulus package continues to benefit the struggling economy.

The agency said the measure raised gross domestic product by between 0.3 and 1.9 percent in the third quarter of 2011, which ended Sept. 30. The Commerce Department said Tuesday that GDP in that quarter was only 2 percent total.

CBO said that the stimulus also lowered the unemployment rate by between 0.2 and 1.3 percentage points and increased the number of people employed by between 0.4 million and 2.4 million. Link

The real flaw in the stimulus package was that it wasn’t big enough to get the job done.

Herman Cain is a big fat racist

2011-11-22T20:25:00.001-05:00

Really. How stupid and lame can you be?

Cain speaks for nearly a half an hour and despite a couple fleeting "999" mentions, keeps his speech to topics of faith and his recent battle with cancer. He begins with a story about how he knew he would survive when he discovered that his physician was named "Dr. Lord," that the hospital attendant's name was "Grace" and that the incision made on his chest during the surgery would be in the shape of a "J." [...]

[Cain] did have a slight worry at one point during the chemotherapy process when he discovered that one of the surgeon's name was "Dr. Abdallah."

"I said to his physician assistant, I said, 'That sounds foreign--not that I had anything against foreign doctors--but it sounded too foreign," Cain tells the audience. "She said, 'He's from Lebanon.' Oh, Lebanon! My mind immediately started thinking, wait a minute, maybe his religious persuasion is different than mine! She could see the look on my face and she said, 'Don't worry, Mr. Cain, he's a Christian from Lebanon.'"

Hallelujah!" Cain says. "Thank God!"

The crowd laughs uneasily." Link

See? See what he did there? It's funny because the guy has a Middle Eastern name and Cain thought he was a horrible Muslim. But then it was all right because he was actually a Christian! He wouldn't eat Cain's entrails while Cain was under sedation after all!

Dumbass.

Failure of the Supercommittee

2011-11-22T09:21:00.000-05:00

From the New York Times:

The smoke from the smoldering failure known as the deficit “supercommittee” spread heavily across Capitol Hill on Monday, allowing Republicans to obscure the simple truth about the failure to reach an agreement. The only reason the committee failed was because Republicans refused to raise taxes on the rich, and, in fact, wanted to cut them even below their current bargain-basement level.

Republicans in Washington claimed Democrats refused to budge on entitlements. John Boehner, the House speaker, and Mitt Romney, a Republican presidential candidate, as if by rote, issued statements saying it was all President Obama’s fault. But, had a single Republican on the panel endorsed even a modest increase in upper-income tax rates, Republicans could have won trillions in cuts from entitlements and discretionary spending. (Certainly far beyond anything we would endorse.) Link

From Eugene Robinson:

No, the sun didn’t rise in the west this morning. No, Republicans on the congressional supercommittee didn’t offer meaningful concessions on raising new tax revenue. And no, “both sides” are not equally responsible for the failure to compromise.

As usual, the two parties began with vastly different ideas of what it means to negotiate. Democrats envisioned meeting somewhere in the middle, while Republicans anticipated not moving an inch. This isn’t just my spin, it’s a matter of public record: Before the 12-member supercommittee ever met, House Speaker John Boehner warned that they had better not agree to any new tax revenue.

Think about this for a minute. The whole point of the subcommittee exercise was to begin reducing the ballooning national debt, now more than $15 trillion. Closing such a big gap with spending cuts is possible only in the parallel universe inhabited by GOP ideologues, a place where the laws of arithmetic do not apply. Link

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

2011-11-21T23:42:00.001-05:00

After deciding an adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand wasn’t really for him, Variety reports that the director of the last four Harry Potter movies David Yates is developing a Doctor Who movie with the BBC.

“We’re going to spend two to three years to get it right,” says Yates. “…We’re looking at writers now.”

This will be the Timelord’s first big screen movie in decades and Yates says it will have no ties whatsoever to the current television incarnation starring Matt Smith…

“It needs quite a radical transformation to take it into the bigger arena…Russell T. Davies and then Steven Moffat have done their own transformations, which were fantastic, but we have to put that aside and start from scratch.”

“The notion of the time-travelling Time Lord is such a strong one, because you can express story and drama in any dimension or time,”

“We want a British sensibility, but having said that, Steve Kloves wrote the Potter films and captured that British sensibility perfectly, so we are looking at American writers too. Link

I'll repeat. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Every single episode of Doctor Who, including the 1996 FOX TV movie, is within the Doctor Who canon. Creating a movie that is NOT canon is a terrible, terrible idea.

Maybe you should rethink your news choices

2011-11-21T23:13:00.001-05:00

I have to admit a certain amount of schadenfreude with this news.

Fox News viewers are less informed than people who don't watch any news, according to a new poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

The poll surveyed New Jersey residents about the uprisings in Egypt and the Middle East, and where they get their news sources. The study, which controlled for demographic factors like education and partisanship, found that "people who watch Fox News are 18-points less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their government" and "6-points less likely to know that Syrians have not yet overthrown their government" compared to those who watch no news.
...
Dan Cassino, a political science professor at Fairleigh Dickinson, explained in a statement, "Because of the controls for partisanship, we know these results are not just driven by Republicans or other groups being more likely to watch Fox News. Rather, the results show us that there is something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on these questions than those who don’t watch any news at all." Link

It shouldn't be surprising that when you watch purposely slanted "news", you don't actually gain real knowledge about the world.

A disturbing similarity

2011-11-21T11:43:00.000-05:00

This morning when I turned on the radio, they were in the middle of a news report involving riot police clubbing protestors and then moving in and destroying a tent city the protestors had erected. I was thinking about Oakland or Portland or the University of California. Turns out that the story was about Egypt, where Americans unreservedly support the protestors. That I could think they were talking about events in the United States, and that many Americans have characterized our own Occupy protestors as un-American, is alarming.

Important Question

2011-11-21T00:05:00.001-05:00

So on this week's The Walking Dead, they had someone feeding live but hobbled chickens to a bunch of captive zombies.

So what happens if you don't feed a zombie? Does it die?

Bring on the Morning Stupid!

2011-11-20T11:22:00.001-05:00

There's something about being the Republican front-runner that brings out the asinine in a person. Here's current "it" guy Newt Gingrich:

“This is something that no liberal wants to deal with,” Gingrich said. “Core policies of protecting unionization and bureaucratization against children in the poorest neighborhoods, crippling them by putting them in schools that fail has done more to create income inequality in the United States than any other single policy. It is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, entrapping children in, first of all, child laws, which are truly stupid.” [...]

“Most of these schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school. The kids would actually do work, they would have cash, they would have pride in the schools, they’d begin the process of rising.” Link

Yes, he's really advocating that getting rid of child labor laws and putting children to work is a good solution to the problems of poor neighborhoods and poor schools. (Note that he doesn't talk about putting rich kids to work). Apparently the solution to twenty-first century problems is the nineteenth century!

Here's an idea. Why not instead work to eradicate poverty, make our schools safe, pay our janitors a good wage, and then everyone will be better off without using our children as a labor force.

Then, at the "Family Forum" yesterday, Newt said this:

“A country that has been now since 1963 relentlessly in the courts driving God out of public life shouldn’t be surprised at all the problems we have. Because we’ve in fact attempted to create a secular country, which I think is frankly a nightmare.” Link

Yes, God is completely absent from public life. We certainly no longer have "In God We Trust" on our currency, we don't open Congress with a prayer, politicians don't invoke God at every opportunity, and neither of our two parties legislates from the Bible. Yes, we atheists have won! And, as a side benefit, created a nightmare!

Of course, despite all of the above, the FOUNDERS created a secular country. Newt really seems to be a terrible historian.

Keep in mind that this guy is considered the INTELLECTUAL GIANT of the Republican field.

Why would anyone be voting for these clowns?

Not my family

2011-11-19T18:02:00.000-05:00

Tonight in Iowa, the Republican Presidential candidates are participating in a "family values" forum.

I'm willing to bet a LOT of money that they won't talk about ANYTHING that's an important value for my family.

Rich guy to poor Americans, "You should suffer"

2011-11-19T11:21:00.001-05:00

Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum wants the poor to suffer.

During a town hall meeting in Ottumwa, Iowa Friday afternoon, Rick Santorum argued that Americans receive too many government benefits and ought to “suffer” in the Christian tradition. If “you’re lower income, you can qualify for Medicaid, you can qualify for food stamps, you can qualify for housing assistance,” Santorum complained, before adding, “suffering is part of life and it’s not a bad thing, it is an essential thing in life.” Link

Shouldn't our goal as human beings be to reduce ALL human suffering? Isn't it our moral imperative to work to ELIMINATE all human suffering?

But then, what do I know about morality? I'm just an atheist.

Last two performances of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown!

2011-11-18T13:21:00.000-05:00

Tonight and tomorrow night at 7PM. If you’re in the Germantown area, come to Clarksburg HS to see Rachel as Sally Brown. It might not change your life, but you’ll have a good time!

Michael Crook may be the dumbest piece of sh*t on the Internet

2011-11-17T20:39:00.001-05:00

Here's the proof.

Read it for yourself. I think you'll agree.

It's also an excellent demonstration of what religious thinking does to people.

Bringing the crazy

2011-11-17T19:43:00.001-05:00

Presidential Candidate Michele Bachmann, undoubtedly feeling slighted by all the recent attention given to Herman Cain for his crazy antics, has decided to up the ante. Here are some "points" she recently made in her never ending quest to increase the deficit, cost jobs, and hurt American healthcare by repealing the Affordable Care Act.

– “Under Obamacare illegal aliens don’t have to pay for Obamacare. Only American citizens pay for Obamacare. [...] Illegal aliens have the possibility of getting the care, but they have no requirement to pay for the care. Only the citizens do.”

– “One man stood up, he was over 7-feet tall. He was a physician in the community. And he said, ‘I had a little lady in my office and because of Obamacare, I had to call the IRS and I had to get a number to put on a form before I could see her.’”

– “When I was a little girl…There were people who could not pay [for health care]. I mean they just did not have any money at all. And so the doctor would just write it off. [...] It’s very different today. Now, doctors don’t feel like they can do that…they worry about liability.” Link

I really enjoyed the 7 foot tall doctor and his fealty to the IRS although I'm pretty sure Michele just dreamed that part. Of course none of the rest of it is true either. But that won't stop her from making the claims.

Respects to a Big Man

2011-11-16T09:47:00.000-05:00

One of the last surviving actors to play Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz has died at age 93. Karl Slover’s death means only three Munchkins remain.

The details of the man’s early life are quite amazing and eye opening, demonstrating how horrible people can be over inconsequential differences, even to their own children. But Stover’s story also shows how talent and perseverance can triumph.

Slover was born Karl Kosiczky in what is now the Czech Republic and he was the only child in his family to be dwarf sized.

"In those uninformed days, his father tried witch doctor treatments to make him grow," Fricke said. "Knowing Karl and his triumph over his early life, you can't help but celebrate the man at a time like this."

He was buried in the backyard, immersed in heated oil until his skin blistered and then attached to a stretching machine at a hospital, all in the attempt to make him become taller. Eventually he was sold by his father at age 9 to a traveling show in Europe, Fricke said.

Slover continued to perform into his late 20s, when he moved to the United States, changed his name and appeared in circuses as part of a vaudeville group known as the Singer Midgets. The group's 30 performers became the nucleus of the Munchkins.

He was paid $50 a week for the movie and told friends that Garland's dog in the movie, "Toto," made more money. Link

I do think the third paragraph is inadvertently hilarious. When a sentence about someone who has died starts, “He was buried . . .” you think it’s about today. I sat here flabbergasted for a few seconds trying to figure out why they would immerse him in heated oil before I realized they were talking about his childhood.

Casting stones

2011-11-15T09:45:00.000-05:00

Former Penn State Coach Joe Sandusky has offered his first response to allegations that he sexually assaulted/raped young boys in the Penn State locker rooms.

“I could say that I have done some of those things,” Sandusky said. “I have horsed around with kids. I have showered after workouts. I have hugged them and I have touched their legs without intent of sexual contact.”

Well why didn’t he say so? Obviously he’s innocent. Who among us, after all, hasn’t showered with young boys, hugging them and touching their legs?

What's the difference?

2011-11-12T23:07:00.001-05:00

O-M-G! This week, Herman Cain actually said that Elvis told him to run for President:

“I prayed and prayed and prayed to Elvis,” Cain told about 100 members of the Georgia Young Republicans in Atlanta on Saturday.

“I’m a man of faith in Elvis, I had to do a lot of praying for this one, more praying than I’d ever done before in my life. And when I finally realized that it was Elvis saying that this is what I needed to do, I was like Colonel Parker. ‘You’ve got the wrong man, Elvis. Are you sure?’”

So now one of the Republican frontrunners is admitting that his Presidential candidacy happened because he's hearing voices that tell him what to do? He's HEARING VOICES and doing what they say? Why isn't he being carted off to a mental hospital?!?

Wait. What.

Oh, God, not Elvis, told Cain to run for President. God. Whew. That's totally different then.

Never mind.

Charlie Brown!

2011-11-12T11:36:00.001-05:00

Rachel's fall musical, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, opened last night. Rachel plays Sally Brown.

We were there, of course, and really enjoyed the show. YAGMCB (as it's called) isn't a traditional musical with a romantic plot, but a series of Peanuts vignettes with songs. Keeping a good pace is critical for such a show and they did a great job. Everyone was well cast, the staging and choreography very well done and the singing was probably the best of any show I've seen at Rachel's school.

Rachel was adorable as Sally and actually invoked the cartoon character really well, which isn't easy to do. Speaking not only as a father but as a renowned theatre critic, she was great.

There are four more shows, today at 1PM and 7PM and next Friday and Saturday at 7PM.

Double standard much?

2011-11-12T10:53:00.001-05:00

So Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner sends a few inappropriate pictures to women, lies about it, and is driven from Congress. Note that he is driven out by BOTH parties, Republicans and Democrats, who almost universally condemn him.

Presidential Herman Cain harassed several women and allegedly assaulted one, lied about it, and he is the Republican front-runner for President with apparently NO Republicans calling for him to step down.

For the Republicans, apparently politics takes preference even over actual crimes committed by their candidates.

JoePa

2011-11-11T12:41:00.001-05:00

Just a friendly reminder to those students who rioted at Penn State in support of Joe Paterno.

Joe Paterno was not fired because Penn State didn't support him. He was not fired because the University has been looking for an excuse to fire him for years.

Joe Paterno was fired because he was informed of a man connected to the football program RAPING A YOUNG CHILD in the football locker room showers AND HE DID NOTHING.

Don't get confused by your loyalty to the football team or Paterno's amazing record.

This is about covering up a CHILD RAPE. And if you cover up a child rape, the LEAST that should happen is that you should lose your job.

The University didn't tarnish Paterno's legacy, Paterno did.

Herman Cain didn't assault YOU, so shut up!

2011-11-10T12:14:00.000-05:00

Utter hilariousness from Herman Cain at last night’s “brain freeze” Republican debate.

"And for every one person that comes forward with a false accusation, there are probably, there are thousands who would say none of that sort of activity ever came from Herman Cain."

Yeah! For every person who accuses him of harassment or assault, there are thousands who haven’t! Admittedly, the thousands were all ugly and not hot, but that’s beside the point. And don’t forget, for everyone that Bernie Madoff scammed, there were thousands of people he didn’t scam. And for every person Charles Manson killed, there were thousands, heck millions, of people he didn’t kill!

So leave Herman Cain alone. Or he’ll assault you.

More of the campaign against public servants

2011-11-09T18:47:00.000-05:00

And while we're on the subject of Federal Workers, here's a recent quote from Republican Presidential candidate front-runner, Mitt Romney.

Multimillionaire Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney (R) told employees at a steel fabrication plant on Monday that government employees “are making a lot more money than we are.”

Wearing his best plaid work shirt and Tommy Bahama blue jeans, the candidate explained to workers at Giese Manufacturing that he would slash the number of federal employees if elected.

“We have to cut back on the scale of the federal government,” Romney declared. “And for me that will start by reducing federal employees by 10 percent. You do that through attrition.”

“And then something else that is just as important, and that’s to make sure the people who work for government don’t get better pay and better benefits than people that work in the private sector.” Link

See what he did there? He said federal employees are making "a lot more money than WE are". By which he means himself, multi-millionaire Mitt Romney, who has a net worth of approximately $250 million. I'd like to know exactly which federal workers are doing that so I can apply for their job. (Of course, as a full time candidate, Mitt isn't actually making a salary, which is likely what he means. It's still a ridiculous, moronic thing to say.)

As to slashing the federal workforce, eliminating several hundred thousand more jobs (even evil government jobs) wouldn't be good for the economy or the families who depend on those jobs. These candidates are really pathological about government workers.

As far as his last point about government workers not getting better pay and benefits than people in the private sector, (1) they don't. And (2) why the hell not? Why shouldn't government workers get paid better? Don't we want the best people working for the people of the United States? Do we really want to lowball the people who keep us safe, educate our children, run our social safety net, guard our food supply and all the other things they do?

What kind of morons want undermotivated, bottom of the barrel employees working for the public good?

Oh yeah. Republicans.

Overpaid?

2011-11-08T09:40:00.000-05:00

The federal government reported Friday that on average, its employees are underpaid by 26.3 percent compared with similar non-federal jobs, a “pay gap” that increased by about 2 percentage points over last year while federal salary rates were frozen.

But wait! Wasn’t there a Heritage Foundation study that showed that federal workers are overpaid?

The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) took an extensive look at the Heritage study, however, and found that it was riddled with errors and “methodological problems that call into question the validity of its findings and recommendations.”

Of course, this won’t for a moment stop the Republicans from continuing their demonization of federal and state public servants. They want to make government service as unappealing as possible to starve the government of workers so they can kill off as much of the government as possible. The fact that cutting government jobs puts more people out of work, harms people who rely on government services (i.e. everyone), hurts local and national economies, threatens the social safety net and puts millions of people in dire straits doesn’t bother them. They don’t care.

Surprise! George Will is still a douchebag

2011-11-06T20:58:00.002-05:00

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Let me turn to you George and ask you about the unemployment numbers. Is that something of a trend or is that scratching the surface? What difference is that going to make?

WILL: Not much. First of all, 80,000 isn’t nearly enough to accomodate even the natural growth month by month of the workforce. There are two bits of good news in there. The 80,000 is a net number. The private sector created 104,000 jobs. The public sector happily shrank by 24,000 jobs. Both of that’s good. Link

Because those public sector jobs weren't important! Those people didn't have families or mortgages or car payments or healthcare needs or contribute to their local economy! And they didn't add anything to our nation. That would be a ridiculous notion. I mean, they were teachers and policemen and firemen and civil servants. We're all better off to add another 24,000 names to the unemployment rolls!

Another reason I'm no longer a conservative.

Note to the Producers and Fans of LOST

2011-11-06T20:00:00.000-05:00

If you follow this blog (and really, who doesn't?) you'll know I was a big fan of the TV show LOST. You may also know that I was just a bit disappointed by the finale last year.

The internet being what it is, there is still lots of discussion about the show and fans range from adoring to pissed off at having wasted six years watching the show.

One of the arguments in favor of the show is that people are unjustly angry because the finale didn't answer ALL the questions raised during the series. It's unreasonable to be angry just because your personal pet question didn't get answered, they say.

So, here's my note:

I am not pissed off because all the answers were not provided. I am pissed off because the end of the show didn't live up to the awesome setup of the show over several years. I am also pissed off because the end of the show was damn near incoherent as a narrative.

That is all.

Posted without comment

2011-11-06T18:00:00.000-05:00

Interesting Finds

2011-11-06T15:14:00.001-05:00

Here are a couple of interesting things around the web:

Is Doctor Who Bad for Women?

This article was written before the Matt Smith seasons so it's a bit dated, but still very interesting.

And a fascinating short video on a sparrow "murmuration". This would be spectacular to see live.

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

Infographic on Competing Jobs Bills

2011-11-03T12:00:00.000-04:00

If only he'll be on the bridge when it collapses

2011-11-02T23:05:00.003-04:00

Speaker of the House John Boehner moronically actually said this:

"Everybody believes we have infrastructure deficiencies and more needs to be spent to repair, replace and in some cases build new infrastructure," Boehner said in a speech. "The problem is nobody wants to pay for it." Link

Completely and utterly wrong. The Senate is currently debating a Democratically sponsored infrastructure bill that's completely paid for by a small tax increase on the richest Americans, something a majority of even Republicans support. Americans realize that our infrastructure needs to be maintained and that it's cost efficient to do so.

The only people who don't want to pay for infrastructure are Congressional Republicans who want to blame the crumbling bridges, roads and schools on the President.

More Schadenfreude

2011-11-02T22:52:00.001-04:00

It's been a great week for the Republican Presidential candidate clown car. Especially the front-runners.

Herman Cain has been virtually incoherent in answering inquiries about potential past sexual harassment. His denials have been so inconsistent and bad that he's actually kept the issue in the news. And now there's reports of a third complainant.

Speaking of incoherent, Rick Perry gave such a bizarre, unhinged speech in New Hampshire this week that his campaign had to issue a statement saying that "Rick Perry was not drunk" while giving the speech.

And Mitt Romney has just been tied to the second biggest Ponzi scheme of all time (and we're not talking about Social Security).

Yes, it's been a great week. For America.

7 Billion People

2011-11-02T11:52:00.000-04:00

There are now approximately 7 billion humans on the planet.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say here that we really don’t need that many. I’m not advocating killing anyone, I’m just saying that 7 billion of us is plenty and given living space and resource issues, if we slowly dwindled through attrition down to 5 billion, we’d still have enough people to do everything we’d like to do. We certainly don’t need 8 billion, 10 billion or more.

So here’s hoping that we’ll level out somewhere at a sustainable level without putting more strain on our already strained ability to feed and care for ourselves.

Worst Line Reading Ever

2011-11-02T00:26:00.001-04:00

Just thought I'd share this. You may have seen this before but I just discovered it this week.

Ryan O'Neal in Norman Mailer's "Tough Guys Don't Dance". Hilarious. It makes me laugh every time I watch it.