The system is the solution

Nice.

2009-10-06T21:02:00.001-05:00

Harmful to minors

2009-09-30T17:18:00.003-05:00

Panic at the London Evening Standard [Sept. 8] where the theatre critic Henry Hitchings filed his review of Lolita at the National Theatre, only to learn that no one at HQ could locate his copy. The panic starts early there – 5am – with production staff looking at the clock and imploring him to file again. Why couldn't he communicate with them. No one could understand it. Enter a hero computer boffin. The firewall, he explained, was rejecting the word Lolita. So Hitchings had to re-file substituting Lolita throughout with the less troublesome "Fishfingers". Relieved production staff re-inserted all the Lolitas at the other end.

-- Guardian (UK) via comp.risks.

The Führer's Diabolical Plan

2009-09-20T07:49:00.003-05:00

Tom the Dancing Bug, Ruben Bolling, Sept. 19, 2009:

Behind the Scenes Video at 9/12 Protest Shows Fox News Producer Directing Crowd

2009-09-19T07:37:00.002-05:00

From AlterNet.

After Obama

2009-09-08T09:17:00.002-05:00

There were some of us -- indeed, many of us, myself included -- who thought there was a possibility that Barack Obama might seize this moment of American crisis, twinned with the complete failure for all to see of the regressive agenda, to become the second coming of Franklin Roosevelt.

Read the full article by David Michael Green at CommonDreams.

Mr. Franken goes to the State Fair

2009-09-06T05:56:00.002-05:00

From dustytrice.com ...

About a dozen tea party activists had staked out Sen. Al Franken's booth [at the Minnesota State Fair], and confronted him loudly when he arrived. But within minutes, he'd turned an unruly crowd into a productive conversation on health care.

Wonderment from a Would-Be Wordsmith

2009-09-05T09:35:00.001-05:00

My Word !

Guest blogged by Peter A. Miller
President, The English Speaking Community Club of Stockholm

Sometimes just a simple catch phrase, slogan, saying, or cliché can have a rather profound effect on a person’s life. When I was 21 and about to graduate from college, I was approached by a remarkably silver-tongued insurance salesman who first wished me well as I passed this academic milestone, and then proceeded to extol the virtues of being properly insured. As I left the somewhat sheltered world of academia, and was facing my first forays into “real life” I was being urged to look into the future, and to plan for the unexpected. Now, at the age of 21 in Providence, Rhode Island many people in my social network were feeling optimistic, invincible, and brashly immortal. I agree this sounds a bit presumptuous, but then again, 21 is a great age to be! No one in my inner circle was entertaining seriously – not even for a second – the notion that it was high time to acquire insurance coverage of life, limb, and what-have-you. Enter the sales slogan: “Peter”, he said, “When it comes to insurance, it’s better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it”. What could I say? His sales pitch was pithy, practical, and even appealingly rhythmic. So I signed on the proverbial “dotted line”, and have been contentedly insured ever since.

Nowadays it seems to me that individual slogans are no longer all that necessary. On TV (even this morning) I’ve been encouraged to buy a number of products including: shampoo, face cream, and even ice cream …. with one and the same catch phrase: “Because you’re worth it!”. Go figure!

Here, now, comes that enlightening saying that put me on the path to wordsmithery:

I was advised to think of my vocabulary as a box of tools. The analogy: The more working tools in your toolbox, the more things you can potentially deal with. Therefore, the more words in one’s active vocabulary, the more situations you can potentially deal with, or at least handle more successfully. That made instant sense to me, and I’ve been busily collecting words ever since.

In this pursuit (which I feel is anything but trivial!) I have come across words for some very interesting things. There seem to be words for almost anything. Let me share a few of these in the time (read “space”) remaining:

Have you ever seen a debate where the “other guy” raises an issue (most often non-flattering) by claiming not to mention it? Example: “And I won’t even bring up the topic of my opponent’s attendance record!” This is a clear case of apophasis.

There is a word for a person, who under oath, gives personal assurances for the (good) character or conduct of an accused person. Now you know what a compurgator is.

I don’t intend to put a whammy on anyone by bringing this up, but hopefully you have never been the victim of phishing, which is defined as a scam by which an e-mail user is tricked into revealing personal or confidential information.

So, yes I am in wonderment of the richness of vocabulary, and would like to think that this may inspire you to become more active in your love of lexicon.

And don’t forget ….. attending even more ESCC activities, and hanging out with us provides you with excellent settings for both maintaining and enriching your English vocabulary.

Practice does make perfect!

On bipartisanship

2009-08-31T07:15:00.002-05:00

How many principles can you name that Republicans have budged on when it comes to healthcare reform? -- Mugsy's Rap Sheet

Chemo in closet: Doctor finds way to treat Nevada's cancer patients

2009-08-18T17:00:00.002-05:00

Dr. Nick Spirtos of Nevada treats cancer patients pro bono after state funds slashed.

Laura Ling: "When We Walked in Through the Doors, We Saw Standing Before Us President Bill Clinton"

2009-08-05T11:28:00.003-05:00

From MSNBC via Talking Points Memo.

Police Discretion: A Different Perspective

2009-07-25T13:06:00.003-05:00

Dear Diary: So much has happened while I wasn't paying attention.

The Henry Louis Gates arrest in Cambridge, MA may turn out to be one of the more productive, in terms of fostering a national understanding of the -- dare I say -- black man's burden.

I do want to commend to your attention this post by a police captain. But please stay on the page and scroll down to the comments section for an enlightening discussion on race and the duties of the police in a democracy.

Mr. Franken goes to Washington

2009-07-08T23:24:00.000-05:00

CompuServe signs off

2009-07-07T10:13:00.001-05:00

AOL shutters classic dial-up provider

CompuServe, the first commercially successful online and email provider in America, has been shut down by AOL after 30 years of service.

The original CompuServe — later renamed CompuServe Classic — was laid to rest July 1, 2009.

From The Register (UK).

Lowry Ave. Bridge blasted to bits

2009-06-23T17:16:00.001-05:00

Sunday morning, June 21

"Unprecedented" access (once removed)

2009-06-19T09:21:00.001-05:00

From Daily Kos TV. Fox whines about ABC getting an Obama exclusive.

The Internet (1993)

2009-06-08T11:07:00.002-05:00

Found on John Amato's Crooks and Liars.

Betty Bowers Explains Traditional Marriage to Everyone Else

2009-06-03T23:43:00.000-05:00

Quote without comment

2009-05-31T17:26:00.004-05:00

George Tiller was a Mass-Murderer, says Randall Terry -- We Grieve That he Did Not Have Time to Properly Prepare his Soul to Face God

Contact: Sandy Veritas, 904-687-9804

WASHINGTON, May 31 /Christian Newswire/ -- Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, led protests against George Tiller's late-term abortion clinic in Wichita in 1991.

Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue states, "George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God. I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller's killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder. And we still must call abortion by its proper name; murder.

"Those men and women who slaughter the unborn are murderers according to the Law of God. We must continue to expose them in our communities and peacefully protest them at their offices and homes, and yes, even their churches."

Randall Terry is available for comment at 904-687-9804

Two cows (updated for 2009)

2009-05-27T07:38:00.003-05:00

SOCIALISM
You have 2 cows.
You give one to your neighbour.

COMMUNISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and sells you some milk..

NAZISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and shoots you.

BUREAUCRATISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other and then throws the milk away...

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell one and buy a bull.
Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.
You sell them and retire on the income.

SURREALISM
You have two giraffes.
The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.
Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow has dropped dead.

ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND VENTURE CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows.
The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company.
The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more.
You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States, leaving you with nine cows.
No balance sheet provided with the release.
The public then buys your bull.

A FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike, organise a riot, and block the roads, because you want three cows.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
You then create a clever cow cartoon image called 'Cowkimon' and market it worldwide.

A GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows, but you don't know where they are.
You decide to have lunch.

A RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
You count them again and learn you have 2 cows.
You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

A SWISS CORPORATION
You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you.
You charge the owners for storing them.

A CHINESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have 300 people milking them.
You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity.
You arrest the journalist who reported the real situation.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You worship them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Both are mad.

AN IRAQI CORPORATION
Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.
You tell them that you have none.
No-one believes you, so they bomb the crap out of you and invade your country.
You still have no cows, but at least now you are part of Democracy....

AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Business seems pretty good.
You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate.

A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION
You have two cows.
The one on the left looks very attractive.

Red Sox 6, Twins 5

2009-05-25T16:18:00.002-05:00

One good thing about a Minnesota-Boston game: I know I won't be displeased with the outcome.

Is it "due process" when the Government always wins?

2009-05-25T07:42:00.003-05:00

A brief excerpt from Glenn Greenwald's rebuttal of the President's May 21 speech. Worth a click-through.

If you really think about the argument Obama made yesterday -- when he described the five categories of detainees and the procedures to which each will be subjected -- it becomes manifest just how profound a violation of Western conceptions of justice this is. What Obama is saying is this: we'll give real trials only to those detainees we know in advance we will convict. For those we don't think we can convict in a real court, we'll get convictions in the military commissions I'm creating. For those we can't convict even in my military commissions, we'll just imprison them anyway with no charges ("preventively detain" them).

Giving trials to people only when you know for sure, in advance, that you'll get convictions is not due process. Those are called "show trials." In a healthy system of justice, the Government gives everyone it wants to imprison a trial and then imprisons only those whom it can convict. The process is constant (trials), and the outcome varies (convictions or acquittals).

Obama is saying the opposite: in his scheme, it is the outcome that is constant (everyone ends up imprisoned), while the process varies and is determined by the Government (trials for some; military commissions for others; indefinite detention for the rest). The Government picks and chooses which process you get in order to ensure that it always wins. A more warped "system of justice" is hard to imagine.

"I'm in Luck"

2009-05-24T13:31:00.004-05:00

Jeannie was selling her artwork at a birder convention, so to avoid the worst of the holiday traffic I took mostly secondary highways to Luck, WI, abandoned the gas guzzler there temporarily, bought a trail pass, biked the last 17 miles in a blazing 2.5 hours, and joined her in Siren for a noisy but pleasant evening at the Little Mexico.

Jeannie gave me a ride back to Luck to retrieve my car.

The Gandy Dancer trail is fogey-friendly with crushed gravel and gentle inclines. The weather was just right, between 65 and 70 the whole way. The day after, I have no muscle soreness to speak of. Must be the weight exercises I'm doing at the Y.

(The other day when a bagger offered to carry my two bags of groceries out to the car I declined: "Thanks, but I'm Mr. Macho, the world-renowned body builder and professional wrestler. I'm surprised you didn't recognize me when I came in." The young man smiled conspiratorially and said, "Oh yeah. Now that you mention it, I do recognize you.")

Back in Saint Paul now, total absence less than 24 hours.

On the 5th Annual IDAHO*

2009-05-17T00:01:00.000-05:00

*(International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia)
Sunday, May 17, 2009

While your attentions were elsewhere, this was done in your name

2009-05-16T13:57:00.003-05:00

In January 2002, the Supreme Court of Bosnia ordered the release of six men suspected of collaborating with Al Queda. American peace-keeping forces were waiting for them, seized all six and transported them to Guantánamo where they languished for six years.

One prisoner, Lakhdar Boumediene, successfully challenged his confinement in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Digby picks up the story from there:

That is what we did to innocent people. Maybe most Americans don't think we should play the blame game, but I'm not sure people around the world will be satisfied that we have actually stopped acting like animals based solely on our promise to stop being animals.

Some of the Iraq prisoner abuse photos they don't want you to see

2009-05-15T17:00:00.003-05:00

Pretty graphic. Take a look here if you have the stomach for it.

President Obama has changed his mind about officially releasing the photos, fearing a Muslim backlash. I don't agree with him in this instance, but then I never thought I'd agree with him 100 percent of the time.