[Computerworld - In the not-so-distant future, you'll be walking down the street and your phone will beep and offer you a few lunch suggestions just around the corner, or it may tell you that the museum across the street is having an exhibit of that artist you once Googled.
That's Google CEO Eric Schmidt's vision of the future.
In a keynote address at Tuesday's TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, Schmidt said that at some point in the future, Google's search technology will be autonomous, meaning that it will offer you search results even before you've looked for them.
"While it sounds like science fiction to suggest that technology can help search for things you don't even yet know you need, the opportunities to improve human discovery are very real in the future," said Augie Ray, an analyst at Forrester Research. "Combining a person's context -- where they are, who they're with -- with their past opinions and actions, and the opinions and actions of others, can create tremendous value for people..."
...It would make typing in queries and getting lists of result options rather archaic if you could get information before you even realized you wanted it.]
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Top Ten Reasons Rick Scott Wants to Become Governor of FL
10 To convince the world bald people look cool.
9 To live in Tallahassee.
8 Live in Tallahassee? You freakin' kidding me? I'll move capitol to Palm Beach.
7 Free skybox at Bobby Dowden stadium to watch the Fighting Cherokees.
6 Seminoles? What the Hell is a Seminole?
5 Bored by billionaire lifestyle.
4. To charge private plane expenses to state.
3 Will look really cool on resume and Facebook.
2 Bloomberg can buy Mayor of New York office; I should get to buy governorship of hick state of FL
1 I screwed Medicare and US and became rich in the process so might as well screw my home state too.
9 To live in Tallahassee.
8 Live in Tallahassee? You freakin' kidding me? I'll move capitol to Palm Beach.
7 Free skybox at Bobby Dowden stadium to watch the Fighting Cherokees.
6 Seminoles? What the Hell is a Seminole?
5 Bored by billionaire lifestyle.
4. To charge private plane expenses to state.
3 Will look really cool on resume and Facebook.
2 Bloomberg can buy Mayor of New York office; I should get to buy governorship of hick state of FL
1 I screwed Medicare and US and became rich in the process so might as well screw my home state too.
Former Guerrilla to Become Most Powerful Woman in the World
[...{T}his former leader of the resistance to a Western-backed military dictatorship (which tortured her) is preparing to take her place as President of Brazil.
As head of state, president Dilma Rousseff would outrank Angela Merkel, Germany's Chancellor, and Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State: her enormous country of 200 million people is revelling in its new oilwealth. Brazil's growth rate, rivalling China's, is one that Europe and Washington can only envy.
Her widely predicted victory in next Sunday's presidential poll will be greeted with delight by millions. It marks the final demolition of the "national security state", an arrangement that conservative governments in the US and Europe once regarded as their best artifice for limiting democracy and reform. It maintained a rotten status quo that kept a vast majority in poverty in Latin America while favouring their rich friends...
Like President Jose Mujica of Uruguay, Brazil's neighbour, Ms Rousseff is unashamed of a past as an urban guerrilla which included battling the generals and spending time in jail as a political prisoner. As a little girl growing up in the provincial city of Belo Horizonte, she says she dreamed successively of becoming a ballerina, a firefighter and a trapeze artist. The nuns at her school took her class to the city's poor area to show them the vast gaps between the middle-class minority and the vast majority of the poor. She remembers that when a young beggar with sad eyes came to her family's door she tore a currency note in half to share with him, not knowing that half a banknote had no value.
Her father, Pedro, died when she was 14, but by then he had introduced her to the novels of Zola and Dostoevski. After that, she and her siblings had to work hard with their mother to make ends meet. By 16 she was in POLOP (Workers' Politics), a group outside the traditional Brazilian Communist Party that sought to bring socialism to those who knew little about it.
The generals seized power in 1964 and decreed a reign of terror to defend what they called "national security". She joined secretive radical groups that saw nothing wrong with taking up arms against an illegitimate military regime. Besides cosseting the rich and crushing trade unions and the underclass, the generals censored the press, forbidding editors from leaving gaps in newspapers to show where news had been suppressed.] emphasis addedTuesday, September 28, 2010
Tea Party Secrets: Old, mostly white 'ceptin' for Toms, and full of shite
[Scanning the thousands of hopped-up faces in the {tea party} crowd, I am immediately struck by two things. One is that there isn't a single black person here. The other is the truly awesome quantity of medical hardware: Seemingly every third person in the place is sucking oxygen from a tank or propping their giant atrophied glutes on motorized wheelchair-scooters. As Palin launches into her Ronald Reagan impression — "Government's not the solution! Government's the problem!" — the person sitting next to me leans over and explains.
"The scooters are because of Medicare," he whispers helpfully. "They have these commercials down here: 'You won't even have to pay for your scooter! Medicare will pay!' Practically everyone in Kentucky has one."
A hall full of elderly white people in Medicare-paid scooters, railing against government spending and imagining themselves revolutionaries as they cheer on the vice-presidential puppet hand-picked by the GOP establishment. If there exists a better snapshot of everything the Tea Party represents, I can't imagine it.
After Palin wraps up, I race to the parking lot in search of departing Medicare-motor-scooter conservatives. I come upon an elderly couple, Janice and David Wheelock, who are fairly itching to share their views.
"I'm anti-spending and anti-government," crows David, as scooter-bound Janice looks on. "The welfare state is out of control."
"OK," I say. "And what do you do for a living?"
"Me?" he says proudly. "Oh, I'm a property appraiser. Have been my whole life."
I frown. "Are either of you on Medicare?"
Silence: Then Janice, a nice enough woman, it seems, slowly raises her hand, offering a faint smile, as if to say, You got me!
"Let me get this straight," I say to David. "You've been picking up a check from the government for decades, as a tax assessor, and your wife is on Medicare. How can you complain about the welfare state?"
Well," he says, "there's a lot of people on welfare who don't deserve it. Too many people are living off the government."
"But," I protest, "you live off the government. And have been your whole life!"
"Yeah," he says, "but I don't make very much." Vast forests have already been sacrificed to the public debate about the Tea Party: what it is, what it means, where it's going. But after lengthy study of the phenomenon, I've concluded that the whole miserable narrative boils down to one stark fact: They're full of shit. All of them. At the voter level, the Tea Party is a movement that purports to be furious about government spending — only the reality is that the vast majority of its members are former Bush supporters who yawned through two terms of record deficits and spent the past two electoral cycles frothing not about spending but about John Kerry's medals and Barack Obama's Sixties associations. The average Tea Partier is sincerely against government spending — with the exception of the money spent on them. In fact, their lack of embarrassment when it comes to collecting government largesse is key to understanding what this movement is all about.] emphasis added
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/210904
Found at Surburban Guerilla.
"The scooters are because of Medicare," he whispers helpfully. "They have these commercials down here: 'You won't even have to pay for your scooter! Medicare will pay!' Practically everyone in Kentucky has one."
A hall full of elderly white people in Medicare-paid scooters, railing against government spending and imagining themselves revolutionaries as they cheer on the vice-presidential puppet hand-picked by the GOP establishment. If there exists a better snapshot of everything the Tea Party represents, I can't imagine it.
After Palin wraps up, I race to the parking lot in search of departing Medicare-motor-scooter conservatives. I come upon an elderly couple, Janice and David Wheelock, who are fairly itching to share their views.
"I'm anti-spending and anti-government," crows David, as scooter-bound Janice looks on. "The welfare state is out of control."
"OK," I say. "And what do you do for a living?"
"Me?" he says proudly. "Oh, I'm a property appraiser. Have been my whole life."
I frown. "Are either of you on Medicare?"
Silence: Then Janice, a nice enough woman, it seems, slowly raises her hand, offering a faint smile, as if to say, You got me!
"Let me get this straight," I say to David. "You've been picking up a check from the government for decades, as a tax assessor, and your wife is on Medicare. How can you complain about the welfare state?"
Well," he says, "there's a lot of people on welfare who don't deserve it. Too many people are living off the government."
"But," I protest, "you live off the government. And have been your whole life!"
"Yeah," he says, "but I don't make very much." Vast forests have already been sacrificed to the public debate about the Tea Party: what it is, what it means, where it's going. But after lengthy study of the phenomenon, I've concluded that the whole miserable narrative boils down to one stark fact: They're full of shit. All of them. At the voter level, the Tea Party is a movement that purports to be furious about government spending — only the reality is that the vast majority of its members are former Bush supporters who yawned through two terms of record deficits and spent the past two electoral cycles frothing not about spending but about John Kerry's medals and Barack Obama's Sixties associations. The average Tea Partier is sincerely against government spending — with the exception of the money spent on them. In fact, their lack of embarrassment when it comes to collecting government largesse is key to understanding what this movement is all about.] emphasis added
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/210904
Found at Surburban Guerilla.
John Prine: "Paradise"--Meditations on Progressive Politics
"There is nothing new under the sun." As our technology improves, humans find ways to use it for good or ill.
So Mr. Peabody's coal trucks have become dynamite blasting apart mountains for Mountain Top Removal, and we have billionaire Koch brothers bankrolling Tea Party crackpots, thwarting climate reform legislation, and seeking to extinguish all gains made by working class folk in the guise of getting government off the back of the people
Listening to this song (also below)--way back in my youth in the time of dinosaurs, vinyl albums, and no internets--probably helped make me a yellow dog Democrat. I'll vote for a yellow dog before a RepubliKKKan.
So now we have washed hordes of "liberal" bloggers bashing Barry Obama, so pure in their ideals they know, without a metaphysical doubt or conception of the un-democratic framework of US Republic, what he ought to have done as if he could have magically wiped away misuse of the filibuster by RepubliKKKans.
Don't blame me; I voted for Hillary. But just as hysterical as John Aravosis got during '08 primaries over Hillary trying to hijack the process, he and others--hi Susie Madrak--have become just as shrill over Obama's failures to accomplish items on their agenda.
Now while agreeing the current, legally elected, President may not have used the "bully pulpit", as well as one would wish, he ain't on the ballot this year.
"All politics is local," said Tip O'Neil. In my US congressional, FL 08, we have Alan Grayson, a firebrand true progressive running as a Democrat against a self described arch conservative who deny women abortions in ALL circumstances. You can give him $ with match at Act Blue.
We have Feingold in WI, Meek in FL, Sestak in PA, Sink for Governor of FL and tons of Democratic candidates in state races that need our help, if not monetarily, than by reminding friends and other voters of issues that matter, like a woman's right to Choice.
One benefit of my giving my proverbial widow's mite has come getting on a first name basis with Alan, Kendrick, and Alex. So quit your bitchin' and organize because we all live "Under the Gun."
A million "mites" of $5 makes $5,000,000.
Do not despair; change yourself, your block, your neighborhood, bit by bit, and brick by brick (link NSFW) maybe we can make the world better.
Hey, it has happened in history, with near eradication of human slavery and women's sufferage.
When I was a child my family would travel
Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born
And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn.
Chorus:
And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away
Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Airdrie Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.
Repeat Chorus:
Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.
Repeat Chorus:
So Mr. Peabody's coal trucks have become dynamite blasting apart mountains for Mountain Top Removal, and we have billionaire Koch brothers bankrolling Tea Party crackpots, thwarting climate reform legislation, and seeking to extinguish all gains made by working class folk in the guise of getting government off the back of the people
Listening to this song (also below)--way back in my youth in the time of dinosaurs, vinyl albums, and no internets--probably helped make me a yellow dog Democrat. I'll vote for a yellow dog before a RepubliKKKan.
So now we have washed hordes of "liberal" bloggers bashing Barry Obama, so pure in their ideals they know, without a metaphysical doubt or conception of the un-democratic framework of US Republic, what he ought to have done as if he could have magically wiped away misuse of the filibuster by RepubliKKKans.
Don't blame me; I voted for Hillary. But just as hysterical as John Aravosis got during '08 primaries over Hillary trying to hijack the process, he and others--hi Susie Madrak--have become just as shrill over Obama's failures to accomplish items on their agenda.
Now while agreeing the current, legally elected, President may not have used the "bully pulpit", as well as one would wish, he ain't on the ballot this year.
"All politics is local," said Tip O'Neil. In my US congressional, FL 08, we have Alan Grayson, a firebrand true progressive running as a Democrat against a self described arch conservative who deny women abortions in ALL circumstances. You can give him $ with match at Act Blue.
We have Feingold in WI, Meek in FL, Sestak in PA, Sink for Governor of FL and tons of Democratic candidates in state races that need our help, if not monetarily, than by reminding friends and other voters of issues that matter, like a woman's right to Choice.
One benefit of my giving my proverbial widow's mite has come getting on a first name basis with Alan, Kendrick, and Alex. So quit your bitchin' and organize because we all live "Under the Gun."
A million "mites" of $5 makes $5,000,000.
Do not despair; change yourself, your block, your neighborhood, bit by bit, and brick by brick (link NSFW) maybe we can make the world better.
Hey, it has happened in history, with near eradication of human slavery and women's sufferage.
When I was a child my family would travel
Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born
And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn.
Chorus:
And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away
Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Airdrie Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.
Repeat Chorus:
Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.
Repeat Chorus:
Take the Government Back From Whom, and Once Were There Republican Moderates?
[...That message has filtered down to local politics. There is now a take-back movement in Sarasota County -- where moderate Republicans have, so far, long maintained political power and managed to keep a community consensus in favor of environmental protection, land-use regulations, public education and the use of public funds to promote the arts and support social services, all of which are targets of arch-conservatives and Libertarians.
{A}ccording to reports by the Herald-Tribune's Jeremy Wallace, the person with the most support was Walt Augustinowicz. "We need to get back control of our government," Augustinowicz said in favor of his own candidacy.
Now, this is the same guy who ran -- under the Libertarian banner -- against a Republican for state House of Representatives in 2004. He lost that election, just as he and a small group he founded lost in their attempt to prevent an extension of a special public-school tax in Sarasota County.
Despite the group's efforts, the tax extension was approved by more than two-thirds of voters this spring -- a strong demonstration of the will of the people, or at least those who voted.
Even though some of the people now in office supported laws or measures that have drawn criticism or lack majority support in opinion polls, it is disingenuous to claim that they are the ones disregarding the will of the people. At least "they" were elected....
This country, this state and this county don't belong to any political party, its subsidiaries or individuals elected to office or seeking an appointment.
This country, this state and this county belong to us. All of us.
So, take back all that "taking back" nonsense.] emphasis added
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100926/COLUMNIST/9261025/2324/OPINION?p=1&tc=pg
{A}ccording to reports by the Herald-Tribune's Jeremy Wallace, the person with the most support was Walt Augustinowicz. "We need to get back control of our government," Augustinowicz said in favor of his own candidacy.
Now, this is the same guy who ran -- under the Libertarian banner -- against a Republican for state House of Representatives in 2004. He lost that election, just as he and a small group he founded lost in their attempt to prevent an extension of a special public-school tax in Sarasota County.
Despite the group's efforts, the tax extension was approved by more than two-thirds of voters this spring -- a strong demonstration of the will of the people, or at least those who voted.
Even though some of the people now in office supported laws or measures that have drawn criticism or lack majority support in opinion polls, it is disingenuous to claim that they are the ones disregarding the will of the people. At least "they" were elected....
This country, this state and this county don't belong to any political party, its subsidiaries or individuals elected to office or seeking an appointment.
This country, this state and this county belong to us. All of us.
So, take back all that "taking back" nonsense.] emphasis added
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100926/COLUMNIST/9261025/2324/OPINION?p=1&tc=pg
Monday, September 27, 2010
Alan Grayson for Congress
Alan Grayson represents my district, FL 08, near Mickey Land in the land of strip malls, albeit some with great pubs.
Act Blue has page for Grayson. Please, everyone, help as tons of tv $ flowing in from usual suspects, Act Blue.
His opponent, Taliban Dan Webster, opposes abortion in all cases: rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother. Jeepers, thought RepubliKKKans against government interference in private lives.
[The longest-serving legislator in Florida history, Webster earned a reputation during his 28-year career as a staunch advocate for the religious right.
He was the chief sponsor of legislative efforts to prolong the life of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged woman who would become a symbol for the national right-to-life debate.2)] emphasis added
Campaign for Fair Food: Pressure Publix for penny more per pound of tomatoes
[It just makes sense. "Fair Trade prices help small farmers provide employees with livable wages and work conditions."
That's the fundamental principle behind the growing Fair Trade market. And it's the fundamental principle behind the Campaign for Fair Food, too.
A penny more per pound for Florida tomatoes and a rigorous code of conduct help Florida growers provide the wages and working conditions necessary to build a more modern, more humane Florida tomato industry.
Yet while Publix embraces those wholesome values -- "community, well-being, and a nicer world" -- when it comes to marketing its new Fair Trade coffee (the front label of which is pictured here on the left), the supermarket giant has stubbornly resisted joining the growing movement for Fair Food when it comes to buying Florida tomatoes.
And that's despite the fact that the workers who pick Florida tomatoes don't live thousands of miles away from Publix's Lakeland, Florida, headquarters, but in the very same communities (broadly speaking) as Publix executives.
Publix can't have it both ways. Either its claims to ethical trading principles are a hollow marketing sham, or it is time for Publix to change course on the Campaign for Fair Food and join with the CIW in improving wages and working conditions for Florida's hardest-working, worst-paid, least-protected workers.] emphasis added http://www.ciw-online.org/
Pic of Publix Fair Trade Coffee package, found at link above.
That's the fundamental principle behind the growing Fair Trade market. And it's the fundamental principle behind the Campaign for Fair Food, too.
A penny more per pound for Florida tomatoes and a rigorous code of conduct help Florida growers provide the wages and working conditions necessary to build a more modern, more humane Florida tomato industry.
Yet while Publix embraces those wholesome values -- "community, well-being, and a nicer world" -- when it comes to marketing its new Fair Trade coffee (the front label of which is pictured here on the left), the supermarket giant has stubbornly resisted joining the growing movement for Fair Food when it comes to buying Florida tomatoes.
And that's despite the fact that the workers who pick Florida tomatoes don't live thousands of miles away from Publix's Lakeland, Florida, headquarters, but in the very same communities (broadly speaking) as Publix executives.
Publix can't have it both ways. Either its claims to ethical trading principles are a hollow marketing sham, or it is time for Publix to change course on the Campaign for Fair Food and join with the CIW in improving wages and working conditions for Florida's hardest-working, worst-paid, least-protected workers.] emphasis added http://www.ciw-online.org/
Pic of Publix Fair Trade Coffee package, found at link above.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Why Pro Athletes Make Bank: "Broken bat impales rookie in chest"
[MIAMI — What should have been a celebration of the best nine-game road trip in Cubs history was muted Sunday after outfielder Tyler Colvin was impaled in the left upper chest with a broken bat and taken to a local hospital.
The incident occurred during the second inning of the Cubs' 13-3 victory over the Marlins, leaving them 8-1 on the trip with a six-game winning streak.
Colvin was coming home from third on Welington Castillo's RBI double, watching the ball in flight, when the sharp part of the broken bat hit him in the chest, inches from his heart and jugular vein. He swatted away the bat, which did not stick, and was treated immediately in the dugout.
Colvin was listed in stable condition Sunday night in the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. A tube was inserted into his chest to prevent a collapsed lung. He'll remain hospitalized for two or three days, and his promising rookie season is over. The Cubs said he was fortunate to elude a much more serious injury.]
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-0920-cubs-marlins-chicago--20100919,0,1996915.story
The incident occurred during the second inning of the Cubs' 13-3 victory over the Marlins, leaving them 8-1 on the trip with a six-game winning streak.
Colvin was coming home from third on Welington Castillo's RBI double, watching the ball in flight, when the sharp part of the broken bat hit him in the chest, inches from his heart and jugular vein. He swatted away the bat, which did not stick, and was treated immediately in the dugout.
Colvin was listed in stable condition Sunday night in the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. A tube was inserted into his chest to prevent a collapsed lung. He'll remain hospitalized for two or three days, and his promising rookie season is over. The Cubs said he was fortunate to elude a much more serious injury.]
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-0920-cubs-marlins-chicago--20100919,0,1996915.story
Facebook sucks: "Did you know when you talk to a real person, their mouth moves? "
[...Industry watchers say Facebook users suffering through the two-and-a-half-hour outage were like drug addicts going through withdrawal. Facebook's more than 500 million users have grown accustomed to sharing updates about their cats and colleagues, and posting funny pictures of drunken friends and kids acting silly. They certainly don't like it when the social networking site goes down...
Augie Ray, an analyst at Forrester Research, said he was in the same boat.
"I'm not sure I was more productive," he told Computerworld. "I used the Facebook outage as an opportunity for humor on Twitter. I tweeted things like, 'I feel so lonely & isolated all of a sudden. I was forced to have an actual face2face conversation with someone! #facebookdown.' And 'Did you know when you talk to a real person, their mouth moves? I'm used to chatting w/ profile pics & avatars! #facebookdown.' OK, I didn't say it was good humor!"]
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9187900/Facebook_outage_spotlights_social_media_addiction?source=CTWNLE_nlt_pm_2010-09-24
Augie Ray, an analyst at Forrester Research, said he was in the same boat.
"I'm not sure I was more productive," he told Computerworld. "I used the Facebook outage as an opportunity for humor on Twitter. I tweeted things like, 'I feel so lonely & isolated all of a sudden. I was forced to have an actual face2face conversation with someone! #facebookdown.' And 'Did you know when you talk to a real person, their mouth moves? I'm used to chatting w/ profile pics & avatars! #facebookdown.' OK, I didn't say it was good humor!"]
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9187900/Facebook_outage_spotlights_social_media_addiction?source=CTWNLE_nlt_pm_2010-09-24
Constitutional Squabbling Old as Constitution Itself
[...But any movement that regularly summons the ghosts of the founders as a like-minded group of theorists ends up promoting an uncomfortably one-sided reading of history.
The truth is that the disputatious founders — who were revolutionaries, not choir boys — seldom agreed about anything. Never has the country produced a more brilliantly argumentative, individualistic or opinionated group of politicians. Far from being a soft-spoken epoch of genteel sages, the founding period was noisy and clamorous, rife with vitriolic polemics and partisan backbiting. Instead of bequeathing to posterity a set of universally shared opinions, engraved in marble, the founders shaped a series of fiercely fought debates that reverberate down to the present day. Right along with the rest of America, the Tea Party has inherited these open-ended feuds, which are profoundly embedded in our political culture...
Because the Constitution didn’t include a syllable about such an institution, Hamilton, with his agile legal mind, pounced on Article I, Section 8, which endowed Congress with all powers “necessary and proper” to perform tasks assigned to it in the national charter. Because the Constitution empowered the government to collect taxes and borrow money, Hamilton argued, a central bank might usefully discharge such functions. In this way, he devised a legal doctrine of powers “implied” as well as enumerated in the Constitution.
Aghast at the bank bill, James Madison, then a congressman from Virginia, pored over the Constitution and could not “discover in it the power to incorporate a bank.” Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson was no less horrified by Hamilton’s legal legerdemain. He thought that only measures indispensable to the discharge of enumerated powers should be allowed, not merely those that might prove convenient. He spied how many programs the assertive Hamilton was prepared to drive through the glaring loophole of the “necessary and proper” clause. And he prophesied that for the federal government “to take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specifically drawn ... is to take possession of a boundless field of power.”
After reviewing cogent legal arguments presented by Hamilton and Jefferson, President Washington came down squarely on Hamilton’s side, approving the first central bank.
John Marshall, the famed chief justice, traced the rise of the two-party system to that blistering episode, and American politics soon took on a nastily partisan tone. That the outstanding figures of the two main factions, Hamilton and Jefferson, both belonged to Washington’s cabinet attests to the fundamental disagreements within the country. Hamilton and his Federalist Party espoused a strong federal government, led by a powerful executive branch, and endorsed a liberal reading of the Constitution; although he resisted the label at first, Washington clearly belonged to this camp...
Of course, had it really been the case that those who wrote the charter could best fathom its true meaning, one would have expected considerable agreement about constitutional matters among those former delegates in Philadelphia who participated in the first federal government. But Hamilton and Madison, the principal co-authors of “The Federalist,” sparred savagely over the Constitution’s provisions for years. Much in the manner of Republicans and Democrats today, Jeffersonians and Hamiltonians battled over exorbitant government debt, customs duties and excise taxes, and the federal aid to business recommended by Hamilton.
No single group should ever presume to claim special ownership of the founding fathers or the Constitution they wrought with such skill and ingenuity. Those lofty figures, along with the seminal document they brought forth, form a sacred part of our common heritage as Americans. They should be used for the richness and diversity of their arguments, not tampered with for partisan purposes. The Dutch historian Pieter Geyl once famously asserted that history was an argument without an end. Our contentious founders, who could agree on little else, would certainly have agreed on that.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/opinion/24chernow.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&hpw
The truth is that the disputatious founders — who were revolutionaries, not choir boys — seldom agreed about anything. Never has the country produced a more brilliantly argumentative, individualistic or opinionated group of politicians. Far from being a soft-spoken epoch of genteel sages, the founding period was noisy and clamorous, rife with vitriolic polemics and partisan backbiting. Instead of bequeathing to posterity a set of universally shared opinions, engraved in marble, the founders shaped a series of fiercely fought debates that reverberate down to the present day. Right along with the rest of America, the Tea Party has inherited these open-ended feuds, which are profoundly embedded in our political culture...
Because the Constitution didn’t include a syllable about such an institution, Hamilton, with his agile legal mind, pounced on Article I, Section 8, which endowed Congress with all powers “necessary and proper” to perform tasks assigned to it in the national charter. Because the Constitution empowered the government to collect taxes and borrow money, Hamilton argued, a central bank might usefully discharge such functions. In this way, he devised a legal doctrine of powers “implied” as well as enumerated in the Constitution.
Aghast at the bank bill, James Madison, then a congressman from Virginia, pored over the Constitution and could not “discover in it the power to incorporate a bank.” Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson was no less horrified by Hamilton’s legal legerdemain. He thought that only measures indispensable to the discharge of enumerated powers should be allowed, not merely those that might prove convenient. He spied how many programs the assertive Hamilton was prepared to drive through the glaring loophole of the “necessary and proper” clause. And he prophesied that for the federal government “to take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specifically drawn ... is to take possession of a boundless field of power.”
After reviewing cogent legal arguments presented by Hamilton and Jefferson, President Washington came down squarely on Hamilton’s side, approving the first central bank.
John Marshall, the famed chief justice, traced the rise of the two-party system to that blistering episode, and American politics soon took on a nastily partisan tone. That the outstanding figures of the two main factions, Hamilton and Jefferson, both belonged to Washington’s cabinet attests to the fundamental disagreements within the country. Hamilton and his Federalist Party espoused a strong federal government, led by a powerful executive branch, and endorsed a liberal reading of the Constitution; although he resisted the label at first, Washington clearly belonged to this camp...
Of course, had it really been the case that those who wrote the charter could best fathom its true meaning, one would have expected considerable agreement about constitutional matters among those former delegates in Philadelphia who participated in the first federal government. But Hamilton and Madison, the principal co-authors of “The Federalist,” sparred savagely over the Constitution’s provisions for years. Much in the manner of Republicans and Democrats today, Jeffersonians and Hamiltonians battled over exorbitant government debt, customs duties and excise taxes, and the federal aid to business recommended by Hamilton.
No single group should ever presume to claim special ownership of the founding fathers or the Constitution they wrought with such skill and ingenuity. Those lofty figures, along with the seminal document they brought forth, form a sacred part of our common heritage as Americans. They should be used for the richness and diversity of their arguments, not tampered with for partisan purposes. The Dutch historian Pieter Geyl once famously asserted that history was an argument without an end. Our contentious founders, who could agree on little else, would certainly have agreed on that.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/opinion/24chernow.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&hpw
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Alleged Terrorist Really Disgruntled Cubs Fan, Tries to Plant Bomb at Wrigley
Golly gee willikers, I thought I was a disgruntled Cubs fan, maybe due to genetic defect 'cause Pops and Gran' Pops both carried Cubs fan mutant gene..
[The reason I bring this up is because we live in a terrorist-infested world and because early Sunday morning a 22-year-old Lebanese immigrant and legal permanent U.S. resident named Sami Samir Hassoun was arrested near Wrigley Field after planting what he thought was a bomb outside Sluggers sports bar at 3540 N. Clark St.
Hassoun, according to undercover federal law- enforcement agents who had been working with him for months, claimed not to be a religious extremist, but a man who wanted to create chaos and gain political control of Chicago. How he would do that by killing, as he reportedly told agents, ''all [the] young people, [the] hippest people,'' nobody knows. Not even Hassoun.]
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/telander/2735088,CST-SPT-rick22.article
[The reason I bring this up is because we live in a terrorist-infested world and because early Sunday morning a 22-year-old Lebanese immigrant and legal permanent U.S. resident named Sami Samir Hassoun was arrested near Wrigley Field after planting what he thought was a bomb outside Sluggers sports bar at 3540 N. Clark St.
Hassoun, according to undercover federal law- enforcement agents who had been working with him for months, claimed not to be a religious extremist, but a man who wanted to create chaos and gain political control of Chicago. How he would do that by killing, as he reportedly told agents, ''all [the] young people, [the] hippest people,'' nobody knows. Not even Hassoun.]
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/telander/2735088,CST-SPT-rick22.article
No One Could Know Extremism Incites Violence
[A 50-year-old Army veteran who was arrested after an eight-hour standoff with federal agents was charged on Wednesday with threatening to kill President Barack Obama. Officials said he planned to ignite a war between Muslims and Christians and "start an apocalypse," and his Facebook page showed that he planned to burn a Koran.
Roman Otto Conaway, 50, was arrested at his home in Fairview Heights, Illinois in the early morning hours Wednesday and was scheduled to appear in federal court on Thursday. During the standoff, Conaway allegedly said a bulky belt he wore and three storage containers on his property were packed with explosives, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.]
Muslims Unite for Community Centre, Constitution
[The proposed Islamic community center and mosque in Lower Manhattan got its strongest vote of confidence yet from major Muslim leaders on Monday, after months of behind-the-scenes grumbling that they were not properly consulted on the project, and a day’s worth of intense and painful conversations at a hotel near Kennedy International Airport.
Leaders of local and national groupsgathered at the site of the planned center, two blocks from ground zero, and declared not only that the planners had a constitutional right to build it, but also that they would help the project move forward in the face of heated opposition. They insisted that, as a matter of principle, the center should not budge from its planned site.] emphasis added http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/nyregion/21mosque.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
Oh no, they didn't; they didn't just make a stand on principles in an election year!
Principles mean nothing in the good old US of A today, not with RepubliKKKans crawling over each other like roaches to condemn exercising Constitutional rights to religious freedom.
Great Caesar's ghost, these same assclowns whine their children can't have organized by schools prayers before school now seek to prevent free exercise of other people's religion.
Absurd they don't realize the Constitution protects them AND Muslims.
Leaders of local and national groupsgathered at the site of the planned center, two blocks from ground zero, and declared not only that the planners had a constitutional right to build it, but also that they would help the project move forward in the face of heated opposition. They insisted that, as a matter of principle, the center should not budge from its planned site.] emphasis added http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/nyregion/21mosque.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
Oh no, they didn't; they didn't just make a stand on principles in an election year!
Principles mean nothing in the good old US of A today, not with RepubliKKKans crawling over each other like roaches to condemn exercising Constitutional rights to religious freedom.
Great Caesar's ghost, these same assclowns whine their children can't have organized by schools prayers before school now seek to prevent free exercise of other people's religion.
Absurd they don't realize the Constitution protects them AND Muslims.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Computer Worm Made to Attack Iran
[IDG News Service - A highly sophisticated computer worm that has spread through Iran, Indonesia and India was built to destroy operations at one target: possibly Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor.
That's the emerging consensus of security experts who have examined theStuxnet worm. In recent weeks, they have broken the cryptographic code behind the software and taken a look at how the worm operates in test environments. Researchers studying the worm all agree that Stuxnet was built by a very sophisticated and capable attacker -- possibly a nation-state -- and it was designed to destroy something big.
Though it was first developed more than a year ago, Stuxnet was discovered in July 2010, when a Belarus-based security company found the worm on computers belonging to an Iranian client. Since then it has been the subject of ongoing study by security researchers, who say they have never seen anything like it before. Now, after months of private speculation, some of the researchers who know Stuxnet best say that it may have been built to sabotage Iran's nukes.
Last week Ralph Langner, a well-respected expert on industrial systems security, published an analysis of the worm, which targets Siemens software systems, and suggested that it may have been used to sabotage Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor. A Siemens expert, Langner simulated a Siemens industrial network and then analyzed the worm's attack.
Experts had first thought that Stuxnet was written to steal industrial secrets -- factory formulas that could be used to build counterfeit products. But Langner found something quite different. The worm actually looks for very specific Siemens settings -- a kind of fingerprint that tells it that it has been installed on a very specific programmable logic controller (PLC) device -- and then it injects its own code into that system.
Because of the complexity of the attack, the target "must be of extremely high value to the attacker," Langner wrote in his analysis.]
Monday, September 20, 2010
Rick Scott: Liar, Liar Pants on Fire
[We'll focus on his parting blow: "The stimulus has not created one private-sector job."
By stimulus, campaign spokesman Joe Kildea confirms, Scott means the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Federal data don't break out private-sector jobs from public ones. But it's clear some Florida stimulus jobs — and in some cases, most — end up with private-sector contractors, said Don Winstead, special adviser to Gov. Charlie Crist on the stimulus. One example of private impact, he said, would be 2,951 full-time equivalent jobs created or saved under the U.S. Department of Transportation. They would largely represent private highway construction jobs, he said.
But that doesn't address whether a job may have been "created," not merely saved. So we examined a specific stimulus-funded program, Florida Back to Work. It's paid for with funds from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program — established by the stimulus bill — which may be spent on subsidized employment.
The program is operated by the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation, which administers other benefit programs and tracks the unemployment rate. It got its federal funding in March, and reimburses employers for most of the costs of a new employee through Sept. 30. As of Sept. 10, it had paid for jobs for 5,324 new employees. It has also worked with employers to create 4,053 positions posted at employflorida.com and open to job seekers.
So, are any of those private-sector jobs?
A summary from the agency lists more than 1,000 Florida employers who have agreed to create jobs using the program. Some are public, such as the Department of Children and Families in Okaloosa County. Others are nonprofits, such as Goodwill Easter Seals of the Gulf Coast. And yes, there are plenty of private companies, for example, Riviera Beach pharmaceutical manufacturer Sancilio & Co.
Alex Sancilio, a principal in the Palm Beach County company and director of human resources, has used the Back to Work program to make 27 new hires and keep 15 full-time employees. She worked with the local work force board to get resumes, and used the money to speed up hiring.]
"Don't Try and Stop Us Until the Good is Gone:" Little Steven & Southside Johnny
"We always stood on the same block way back then
Waiting to find out where in the world we fit in
Something on the radio changed everything we been
Now I need it over and over again
Where it comes from, baby, I don't know
That same old something just won't let me go
It's too late ,baby, it's been too long
Don't try to stop me until the Good is Gone...
You need something in your soul, baby, that's gonna keep you strong
That kind of good ain't never, ever, ever gonna go wrong"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgUgnhEwlew
Waiting to find out where in the world we fit in
Something on the radio changed everything we been
Now I need it over and over again
Where it comes from, baby, I don't know
That same old something just won't let me go
It's too late ,baby, it's been too long
Don't try to stop me until the Good is Gone...
You need something in your soul, baby, that's gonna keep you strong
That kind of good ain't never, ever, ever gonna go wrong"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgUgnhEwlew
A Note on Halcyon High School Days: RIP Leonard Skinner
A Note on Halcyon High School Days: So last century I know.
Nevertheless as Russ Rollins of Monsters in the Morning observed, people become adults in high school and stay pretty much the same thereafter.
Gots to agree with him, musically at least.
Sure my nephews and nieces only dimly conceive of the years 1975 & '76 as when dinosaurs strode the Earth, BIE (Before Internet Era).
But the Earth herself seemed open to new possibilities as the hippie ethos of the 60's morphed into, in Indian Harbour By God White Bread Beach FL anyway, powerful optimism.
Graduated from Satellite High School in May '76 and in November the election of Jimmie Carter swept away stains of Nixon, he of wiping his ass with the Constitution and the pardoning Ford Presidency. Yes, everything felt possible then, even certain pot soon legalized.
Music of Lynyrd Skynyrd formed part of the juke box of my life at the time, which boxes would give 3 songs for a quarter ($0.25) and pay phone calls cost a dime ($0.10). Southern Rock came along, and taught us US kids--from FLA, JAX--could play kick ass rock, not just British guitar gods or Chuck Berry riff stealing Stones.
Lynyrd Skynyrd sent to detention? Bonus for us young adult hippies, burnin; hemp at our smoking tree before classes.
Screw the Man, man, WE can rule the world with Rock and Roll!!!
Then came the scourge known as Raygunizm upon the body Politic, the wilderness of the Bush and Cheney presidencies, when optimism and hope and change for the commonweal became passe, outmoded in the greed infused merger and acquisitions era of new gilded age.
But Lynyrd Skynyrd helped teach me the blues through the "Ballad of Curtis Lowe," celebrating black blues musicians and the genre that birthed Rock and Roll.
So damn youse would-be Lennard Skinners out there putting us down, MY MY Generation, tryin' to stop the rock, now minting $ riding the signal, the wave connecting us all which we only dimly realize through gravity and electrons at light speed in the intertubes.
Do Not Despair
RIP Leonard Skinner
Nevertheless as Russ Rollins of Monsters in the Morning observed, people become adults in high school and stay pretty much the same thereafter.
Gots to agree with him, musically at least.
Sure my nephews and nieces only dimly conceive of the years 1975 & '76 as when dinosaurs strode the Earth, BIE (Before Internet Era).
But the Earth herself seemed open to new possibilities as the hippie ethos of the 60's morphed into, in Indian Harbour By God White Bread Beach FL anyway, powerful optimism.
Graduated from Satellite High School in May '76 and in November the election of Jimmie Carter swept away stains of Nixon, he of wiping his ass with the Constitution and the pardoning Ford Presidency. Yes, everything felt possible then, even certain pot soon legalized.
Music of Lynyrd Skynyrd formed part of the juke box of my life at the time, which boxes would give 3 songs for a quarter ($0.25) and pay phone calls cost a dime ($0.10). Southern Rock came along, and taught us US kids--from FLA, JAX--could play kick ass rock, not just British guitar gods or Chuck Berry riff stealing Stones.
Lynyrd Skynyrd sent to detention? Bonus for us young adult hippies, burnin; hemp at our smoking tree before classes.
Screw the Man, man, WE can rule the world with Rock and Roll!!!
Then came the scourge known as Raygunizm upon the body Politic, the wilderness of the Bush and Cheney presidencies, when optimism and hope and change for the commonweal became passe, outmoded in the greed infused merger and acquisitions era of new gilded age.
But Lynyrd Skynyrd helped teach me the blues through the "Ballad of Curtis Lowe," celebrating black blues musicians and the genre that birthed Rock and Roll.
So damn youse would-be Lennard Skinners out there putting us down, MY MY Generation, tryin' to stop the rock, now minting $ riding the signal, the wave connecting us all which we only dimly realize through gravity and electrons at light speed in the intertubes.
Do Not Despair
RIP Leonard Skinner
Leonard Skinner Dies: Sent Lynyrd Skynyrd to High School Detention for Long Hair
[A distinctly original source of inspiration for one of Florida’s iconic rock bands has passed away. The Los Angeles Times reports that Leonard Skinner, the basketball coach and gym teacher who inspired the name of rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, died Monday in Jacksonville, Fla. He was 77.
Skinner died in his sleep at the St. Catherine Laboure Manor, where he had been living for about a year, said his daughter, Susie Moore. He had Alzheimer’s disease.
Skinner worked at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville in the late 1960s when he sent a group of students to the principal’s office because their hair was too long. The students later formed a band, using a variation of the teacher’s name.]
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_music_blog/2010/09/leonard-skinner-inspiration-for-lynyrd-skynyrd-dead-at-age-77.html
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/afterword/2010/09/leonard-skinner-inspiration-for-lynyrd-skynyrd-dies-at-77.html
[...Mr. Skinner never asked to become part of rock 'n roll lore. He didn’t even like rock 'n roll. He was just a by-the-book gym teacher at Robert E. Lee High School, his alma mater, who, in the late 1960s, sent some students to the principal’s office because their hair was too long.
Gene Odom, who worked security for the band and survived the crash of its plane in 1977, said one of the longhairs was Gary Rossington. Rossington was guitarist in a rock band that would later name itself Lynyrd Skynyrd in a smart-aleck tribute to the gym teacher.
During an interview in January 2009, Mr. Skinner said he was just following the rules about hair length. It always bothered him that the legend grew to say he was particularly tough on them or that he’d kicked them out of school...
Forby Leonard Skinner was born Jan. 11, 1933, in Jacksonville. He graduated from Lee High in 1951. A talented athlete who played basketball into hi sixties, he went to Jacksonville Junior College (now Jacksonville University) on a basketball scholarship before being drafted into the Army...
In 2009, friends organized a tribute to Mr. Skinner at the National Guard Armory on the Westside. There were three bands and a couple of hundred people in attendance, including Lynyrd Skynyrd fans, former students and friends from that big part of Mr. Skinner’s life that had nothing to do with the rock band.
Rosemary Skinner said her husband was touched by the event.
“On the way home, Leonard said, 'You know, we sure have a lot of friends.’ I said, 'Yes we do, Leonard. We do have a lot of friends.’ ”] emphasis added
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-09-20/story/leonard-skinner-lynyrd-skynyrd-namesake-dies-77-0
Skinner died in his sleep at the St. Catherine Laboure Manor, where he had been living for about a year, said his daughter, Susie Moore. He had Alzheimer’s disease.
Skinner worked at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville in the late 1960s when he sent a group of students to the principal’s office because their hair was too long. The students later formed a band, using a variation of the teacher’s name.]
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_music_blog/2010/09/leonard-skinner-inspiration-for-lynyrd-skynyrd-dead-at-age-77.html
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/afterword/2010/09/leonard-skinner-inspiration-for-lynyrd-skynyrd-dies-at-77.html
[...Mr. Skinner never asked to become part of rock 'n roll lore. He didn’t even like rock 'n roll. He was just a by-the-book gym teacher at Robert E. Lee High School, his alma mater, who, in the late 1960s, sent some students to the principal’s office because their hair was too long.
Gene Odom, who worked security for the band and survived the crash of its plane in 1977, said one of the longhairs was Gary Rossington. Rossington was guitarist in a rock band that would later name itself Lynyrd Skynyrd in a smart-aleck tribute to the gym teacher.
During an interview in January 2009, Mr. Skinner said he was just following the rules about hair length. It always bothered him that the legend grew to say he was particularly tough on them or that he’d kicked them out of school...
Forby Leonard Skinner was born Jan. 11, 1933, in Jacksonville. He graduated from Lee High in 1951. A talented athlete who played basketball into hi sixties, he went to Jacksonville Junior College (now Jacksonville University) on a basketball scholarship before being drafted into the Army...
In 2009, friends organized a tribute to Mr. Skinner at the National Guard Armory on the Westside. There were three bands and a couple of hundred people in attendance, including Lynyrd Skynyrd fans, former students and friends from that big part of Mr. Skinner’s life that had nothing to do with the rock band.
Rosemary Skinner said her husband was touched by the event.
“On the way home, Leonard said, 'You know, we sure have a lot of friends.’ I said, 'Yes we do, Leonard. We do have a lot of friends.’ ”] emphasis added
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-09-20/story/leonard-skinner-lynyrd-skynyrd-namesake-dies-77-0
Friday, September 17, 2010
Knew Jesus wanted to talk to me but avoided Him for several weeks.
Finally found family forcing me to go to a baptism on a Palm Sunday at Trinity Lutheran Church Downtown Orlando, LCMS.
There Jesus remained fixed to the wall with his hands reaching down, down to his lost sheep, down to his brothers and sisters, down to me, where I'd seen him my whole conscious life.
As statue story went, this particular statue a copy of a Scandinavian one where sculptor shaped the clay so Jesus looked upwards to where his outstretched arms reached. The morning after finishing the piece the sculptor and students walked into the studio and found Jesus' head bowed and reaching down to supplicants, humans all.
The students sprang to reposition the figure but the master sculptor stopped them. "No, I like it the way I see it now."
So lest you think me insane rather than just admittedly crazy, Jesus did not talk to me until I talked to him first. "Que Passa, JON?" (Jesus of Nazareth, my friend name for Him.)
"Great, glad to hear you doing well also," he replied in English 'cause he knows I speak un poco Spanish whereas He speaks Castilian as well as Rican and Mexican dialects.
"So did you read my posts? The ones published and paid for?"
"Of course, you know I like what you post with your clever turns of phrase."
"So do You think them sacrilegious?"
"Do you?"
"I don't know. When does my sarcasm linked to Your Holy Words cross the line?"
He did not answer directly which meant my heart had the answer sought.
"So did I go too far in criticizing others who claim a Christianity cloak while hating some humans? Seriously, Haysoos, links went to your last sheep and goats commandment and OT verses on aliens in the land so just trying to get the heathen to the Word . Your Word if I might say."
"How'd you like the movie Book of Eli
?"
So you know, He never really gives me a straight answer but ALWAYS asks me to look into my heart, never the easiest thing to do.
"So did I write those to tear RepubliKKKans down, aggrandize myself, piss off progressives, use my gift of sarcasm for for the dark side of the Force, or delusion my lone voice blogging in the wilderness means anything to any other human being?"
Just a note, God digs Star Wars and Star Trek and Bhagavad Gītā and thinks we should read all sacred texts of humanity and wishes Native Americans could put their ineffable faith into words.
"OK, OK, will try to tone down snarky sarcasm."
Just then the Pastor held up my little niece, Marie Christine Gerlach, "The newest member of our faith family."
Good luck, little girl, God Bless you, will try to stick around umtil you know I love you.
(Concept borrowed from Giovanni Guareschi, angst all my own.
There Jesus remained fixed to the wall with his hands reaching down, down to his lost sheep, down to his brothers and sisters, down to me, where I'd seen him my whole conscious life.
As statue story went, this particular statue a copy of a Scandinavian one where sculptor shaped the clay so Jesus looked upwards to where his outstretched arms reached. The morning after finishing the piece the sculptor and students walked into the studio and found Jesus' head bowed and reaching down to supplicants, humans all.
The students sprang to reposition the figure but the master sculptor stopped them. "No, I like it the way I see it now."
So lest you think me insane rather than just admittedly crazy, Jesus did not talk to me until I talked to him first. "Que Passa, JON?" (Jesus of Nazareth, my friend name for Him.)
"Great, glad to hear you doing well also," he replied in English 'cause he knows I speak un poco Spanish whereas He speaks Castilian as well as Rican and Mexican dialects.
"So did you read my posts? The ones published and paid for?"
"Of course, you know I like what you post with your clever turns of phrase."
"So do You think them sacrilegious?"
"Do you?"
"I don't know. When does my sarcasm linked to Your Holy Words cross the line?"
He did not answer directly which meant my heart had the answer sought.
"So did I go too far in criticizing others who claim a Christianity cloak while hating some humans? Seriously, Haysoos, links went to your last sheep and goats commandment and OT verses on aliens in the land so just trying to get the heathen to the Word . Your Word if I might say."
"How'd you like the movie Book of Eli
?"So you know, He never really gives me a straight answer but ALWAYS asks me to look into my heart, never the easiest thing to do.
"So did I write those to tear RepubliKKKans down, aggrandize myself, piss off progressives, use my gift of sarcasm for for the dark side of the Force, or delusion my lone voice blogging in the wilderness means anything to any other human being?"
Just a note, God digs Star Wars and Star Trek and Bhagavad Gītā and thinks we should read all sacred texts of humanity and wishes Native Americans could put their ineffable faith into words.
"OK, OK, will try to tone down snarky sarcasm."
Just then the Pastor held up my little niece, Marie Christine Gerlach, "The newest member of our faith family."
Good luck, little girl, God Bless you, will try to stick around umtil you know I love you.
(Concept borrowed from Giovanni Guareschi, angst all my own.
Pigeon Surpasses Broadband in Data Transmission
[Broadband is the most modern of communication means, while carrier pigeons date back to Roman times.
But on Thursday, a race between the two highlighted the low speeds of rural broadband in the UK; the pigeon won.
Ten USB key-laden pigeons were released from a Yorkshire farm at the same time a five-minute video upload was begun.
An hour and a quarter later, the pigeons had reached their destination in Skegness 120km away, while only 24% of a 300MB file had uploaded.
Campaigners say the stunt was being carried out to illustrate that broadband in some parts of the UK is still "not fit for purpose".]
Found at the Agonist.
So watch out, Brighthouse, might get me some carrier pigeons soon.
God Hates Immigrants; Lightning Hits Statue of Liberty
Maybe the RepubliKKKan teabagging folk correct; God hates immigrants.
So the time has come for God fearing gun owning true teabagging patriots to form roadblocks and id checkpoints to make sure everyone has their papers.
God wants us to kick out and hate illegal aliens. Right?
So the time has come for God fearing gun owning true teabagging patriots to form roadblocks and id checkpoints to make sure everyone has their papers.
God wants us to kick out and hate illegal aliens. Right?
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Rick Scott Wrong; Stimulus Worked, Avoided a Great Depression
[There is unlikely to be a double-dip recession, while the fact that stimulus spending was helpful in containing the crisis is undisputable, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), told CNBC Monday.
The US has taken the correct approach in dealing with the economic slowdown and making sure the recovery is sustainable, Strauss-Kahn added.
"It's not our baseline. We don't believe that the double dip will take place," he said...
Stimulus spending was the key for containing the crisis, according to Strauss-Kahn.
"The fact that the stimulus was absolutely useful is not challenged by anyone now," he said.
"I think what the US is doing today is the right thing. I think as long as they will support (the recovery), finally it will pick up and create jobs," Strauss-Kahn added.] emphasis added
http://www.cnbc.com/id/39145952
The US has taken the correct approach in dealing with the economic slowdown and making sure the recovery is sustainable, Strauss-Kahn added.
"It's not our baseline. We don't believe that the double dip will take place," he said...
Stimulus spending was the key for containing the crisis, according to Strauss-Kahn.
"The fact that the stimulus was absolutely useful is not challenged by anyone now," he said.
"I think what the US is doing today is the right thing. I think as long as they will support (the recovery), finally it will pick up and create jobs," Strauss-Kahn added.] emphasis added
http://www.cnbc.com/id/39145952
Monday, September 13, 2010
The Kinks - "Do It Again"
"Standing in the middle of nowhere
Wondering how to begin
Lost between tommorrow and yesterday
Between now and then."
Wondering how to begin
Lost between tommorrow and yesterday
Between now and then."
"Pregnant women seeking help are being misled, and Florida taxpayers are footing the bill."
[Crisis Pregnancy Centers, funded by the state of Florida, are distributing brochures that suggest abortion causes mental illness, including depression, addiction and suicide. In the best case, the information handed out is biased; in the worst case, sources say, it is wrong.
That brochure states, “Many studies have shown abortion to be connected to: clinical depression, Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Suicide” and cites studies that link abortion to clinical depression, PTSD, drug and alcohol abuse and suicide...
Dr. Nancy Russo, Ph.D., a psychology professor at Arizona State University, co-authored in 2008 an American Psychological Association Task Force on Abortion and Mental Health review of existing scientific literature to explore the link between abortion and negative mental health consequences....
Russo writes in her email that “the vast majority of the studies” that support “the claim that ‘abortion damages women’s mental health’ have severe limitations in method...”
In her email, Russo calls distributing information such as that contained in the brochures a “political tactic,” one she says “honest pro-life people” shouldn’t support.] emphasis added
http://floridaindependent.com/7120/state-funded-pregnancy-clinics-disseminate-questionable-science-on-abortion
Thanks JEB!
Specifically, the brochures and online information distributed by Florida’s crisis pregnancy centers ignore scientific research on the issue, including a recent study by the American Psychological Association that questions any causal link between abortion and trauma. Pregnant women seeking help are being misled, and Florida taxpayers are footing the bill...
A young woman who asked to remain anonymous gave TFI brochures distributed at a Fort Lauderdale pregnancy center that was a member of the network in 2004 and 2005.
That brochure states, “Many studies have shown abortion to be connected to: clinical depression, Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Suicide” and cites studies that link abortion to clinical depression, PTSD, drug and alcohol abuse and suicide...
Dr. Nancy Russo, Ph.D., a psychology professor at Arizona State University, co-authored in 2008 an American Psychological Association Task Force on Abortion and Mental Health review of existing scientific literature to explore the link between abortion and negative mental health consequences....
Russo writes in her email that “the vast majority of the studies” that support “the claim that ‘abortion damages women’s mental health’ have severe limitations in method...”
In her email, Russo calls distributing information such as that contained in the brochures a “political tactic,” one she says “honest pro-life people” shouldn’t support.] emphasis added
http://floridaindependent.com/7120/state-funded-pregnancy-clinics-disseminate-questionable-science-on-abortion
Thanks JEB!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
This Guy Ran With Chopsticks
Pic from slideshow at Talking Points Memo
Shall we ask ourselves whether this sign constitutes sedition, incites violence, suggests armed revolution against duly elected officials, and amounts to treason?
Hell Yes!!!!
My local Sentinel columnists doubt but these cretins constitute clear and present danger to US democracy as well as putting a stake through the heart of civil discourse.
Restoration to what, pray tell?
Restoration to a Constitution which counted male Negroes as 3/5 human for purposes of dividing seats in the US House of Representatives among states?
Restoring the right to vote for US Senators to state legislatures instead of citizens as RepubliKKKan nominee for 24th district of FL for US House of Representatives?
These people and fellow tea party travelers go beyond bat shit crazy to freaking downright dangerous.
So you puling progressive pukes popping off on Pres. Barry, ponder Pres. Palin's Supreme Court nominees; you know who you are.
With all due respect to linked bloggers this ant respects, quit yer bitchin'.
Peace
Chinese Mothers Tell Children Not to Run With Chopsticks
[A baby is recovering in China after accidentally poking a chopstick up his nose and piercing his brain. Fourteen-month-old Li Jingchao was playing with the chopstick when he fell and became impaled on it. Surgeons successfully removed the item from Li's nose at Bo Ai Hospital in Beijing after his parents travelled for 10 hours in the car seeking treatment. He is expected to be released from hospital next week.]
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/and-finallybizarre-real-life-stories-1862172.html?action=Popup&ino=26
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/and-finallybizarre-real-life-stories-1862172.html?action=Popup&ino=26
Let Google Think For You
[Google's getting truly spooky! During CEO Eric Schmidt’s IFA keynote in Berlin on Tuesday he revealed some futuristic forecasts of the next gen Google ...
—“Not only are you never lonely, you’re never bored! We’ll suggest what you should be watching, because we know what you care about.”
—“We can suggest what you should do next, what you care about. Imagine: We know where you are, we know what you like.”] (emphasis added; hubris in the original)
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2010/09/from-the-x-file-dept-the-new-google-x.html#more
—“Not only are you never lonely, you’re never bored! We’ll suggest what you should be watching, because we know what you care about.”
—“We can suggest what you should do next, what you care about. Imagine: We know where you are, we know what you like.”] (emphasis added; hubris in the original)
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2010/09/from-the-x-file-dept-the-new-google-x.html#more
Saturday, September 11, 2010
A Neighborhood Exploded; Infrastructure? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Infrastructure
[Last night a neighborhood exploded. One minute people were cooking dinner or sitting down to watch the football game or the news, and the next, their neighborhood was rocked by what felt like a terrible earthquake and then it just...exploded.
There will be investigations and there will be denials and equivocation, but I've managed to put this much together from tweets and reports posted to journalists' blogs:
- The ruptured main belongs to Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)
- The pipe that ruptured was installed in 1948
- Residents in the area had smelled gas for 3 weeks. When it was reported, some were told to shut their garage doors; others were told not to worry about it. (note: those tweets were people reacting in real time to TV reports and interviews)
- People are still missing. Expect the death toll to rise.
- The force of the explosion also stopped the water supply, making it much more difficult to fight the fire.
- PG&E's president was interviewed, but managed to cover himself and duck any hard questions in the process about whether reports of a gas leak had not received priority attention.
- At the time of this writing, it is reported that 45 homes have been lost with hundreds more damaged.
A neighborhood exploded. Just like that. It was there one minute, gone the next, apparently the victim of a deteriorating 62-year old cylinder in the ground that wore out, blew out, and exploded after rupturing the ground above it. That cylinder is just one of many old, deteriorating lines.]
It seems obvious even to this ole country boy: Amreicans need jobs and infrastructure--roads, bridges, sewer and water pipes, gas lines, and the electrical grid, all the things a modern society needs to thrive--crumbles across our country.
For Mother Jones' sake, 'tain't rocket science, people.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)