Goodnight, Farewell auf Wiedersehen Goodbye Pt 1

Well CNN and Fox can take their slow-ass time calling this one, I have less obvious things that need attending-to.

Romney's hold on Florida looks like an ICBM and I'm talking about the "ballistic" part, no so much on the "intercontinental." Seriously. Looks just like of one of those cherub statues peeing in a koi pond, which is just ripe with metaphor, all things considered.

Ohio is 10% which means the transaction fee to sell is more than the worth of the stock.

Colorado is down to 36%.

Wisconsin is 11% after a brief rally.

Stick a fork in it kids, this party is done. If you still want moar, tune into the wingnut talk radio circular firing squad, I predict some full-bore freakouts in 3, 2, 1...

The Ohio Lynchpin

Jumping Jehosophat.

Florida bricked 12%, now a full-blown toss-up at 50% for Romney. If Obama takes Florida there is literally no path for Romney. Game over.

Romney picked up 11% in Ohio, now 30%, so not terribly disconcerting.

Virginia picked up 20% in Virginia, flipping what WAS 40% into 60%. Virginia has 13 votes.

Iowa dropped 7%, now 26%. Romney is probably dead in the water.

New Hampshire dropped 10%, now 22%, also probably DOA to the Republican column.

So here's the breakdown and I'm going to try to make this as simple as possible, which is not exactly easy...

If we make one simple set of assumptions -- that Obama takes Wisconsin (10 votes), Iowa (6), Nevada (6) and New Hampshire (4), Mitt Romney MUST win Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia and Colorado.

Romney's numbers in each of these states:

Florida: 50%
Ohio: 30%
North Carolina: 80%
Virginia: 60%
Colorado: 46%

Since I took the last numbers and wrote all this, Romney has cratered to 17% in Ohio (ie, not reflected in the graph below). I could rewrite it all with new numbers but then they'd be wrong by the time I was done and f*ck that.

From "Unlikely" to "GFY"

Jesus. Big moves.

Bad for Romney:

Florida: -8%
Ohio: -13%
Wisconsin: -11%
Iowa: -14%

Good for Romney:

New Hampshire: +7%

This puts Florida MAYBE back in play and pushes Virginia and Iowa from "maybe" into "gfy" territory.

It's not impossible this could shift to Romney's favor but the big EC states (Pennsylvania, Ohio) aren't anywhere close and not trending and the smaller EC states need to break in clusters that seem to be even less likely.

The numbers.

Options Narrowing for Romney

Romney is making some threatening inroads but it doesn't look to be enough, even if we give him a lot of benefit of the doubt, as it were.

I think it's a foregone conclusion that Florida and North Carolina go to Romney.

If we also concede Virginia (46%), Colorado (46%) AND Iowa (47%), that still puts him at 263 electoral votes.

At 263, neither Nevada nor New Hampshire can put him over the top (only 6 and 4 electoral college votes, respectively) and the remaining states in play are all but confirmed for Obama; Pennsylvania (14%), Ohio (32%), Michigan (10%), Wisconsin (24%), Minnesota (9%).

Here's the latest numbers.

Betfair Tanks

The odds Betfair is laying for Romney just dropped off a cliff, -6% in the couse of a few minutes.

Markets Beginning to Pivot

Looks like some change is showing up in the numbers, albeit minor so far. All of these numbers are from Romney's perspective.

Specifically, Pennsylvania is -4% but that's not terribly significant, we're talking 19.6 => 15.8. Tho Ryan is on the phone right now telling Hannity that Pennsylvania is "in play."

Colorado is -4.8%, 44.9% => 40.1%.

Wisconsin is +4.2%, 20.2% => 24.4%.

Numbers Update

Decided to change things up a wee bit for my 3pm update. Nothing dramatic, I've just now got states with more electoral votes being a darker shade of blue.

This is from Romney's perspective.

Free Markets Hate the GOP, Apparently

Not much has changed since this morning.

InTrade has Obama with 305 EV's, Romney with 235.

Romney still looks likely to take Florida (68.3%) and North Carolina (80.0%) but Romney is down 19.1% in Colorado and down 14.3% in Virginia. Everywhere else there's a 20% gap or greater.

Romney is down a jaw-dropping 39.8% in Ohio.

But every year I make the mistake of following election day from the moment I get up and I should know by now to not look at anything until about 3pm at the earliest. =)

Here's the Election Markets on the swing states updated every 60 seconds.

Pinnacle Drops Out, Geraldo Verbally Pats Woman on the Ass

Pinnacle just dropped off the map, no longer accepting wagers and so they will not be included in future graphs.

On a humorous note, I just heard Geraldo Rivera say goodbye to a guest on his show and added "...and you're easy on the eyes."

What year is this again?

Election Markets: Gap Between Candidates Now Exceeds 50%

We're seeing the overseas books keeping on with their steady, less-volatile march toward Obama.

The domestic books are breaking hard to catch up over the last two days; IEM moved sharply yesterday and is evening out, InTrade's move is less sharp but prolonged.

The difference between the two candidates passed 50% yesterday with the current span at 53.7%.

As far as EC goes, Mitt looks very strong in Florida and a lock in North Carolina but the only other swing state where Romney is within 20% of Obama in Virginia (40.1% vs. 60.0%).

If we assume Romney takes NC and VA and the rest go to Obama, that's 235, leaving Romney 35 short. That's going to be a challenge.

All graphics today will be the same data for 11/5 and earlier with 11/6 data changing.

Markets > Polls

The free markets have not been kind to the free marketer today.

The gap between Romney and Obama widened 3-10% depending on who you're looking at.

As for the Electoral College and Romney's path to 270, he's looking strong in Florida and North Carolina, an underdog within striking distance in Colorado (-5%) and Virginia (-12%) but literally, that's it.

Everywhere else he's a 2:1 dog.

If the markets are accurate, and they are notoriously difficult to beat, then this race is over. I'm not counting anything until ...you know, whenever the Supreme Court picks a winner, but I'll take markets over polls any day of the week.

Fluid Like Dogsh*t on a Vermont Doorstep in December

zZzZzzzzz.

Where We Started

As of 2pm, slight edge toward Romney, current numbers are about the same when I started @ 8am.

Rush Limbaugh: Cannot Bring Himself to Admit Obama Killed bin Laden

Maybe it's all the Oxycontin.

Rush Limbaugh freaks out about Obama's job approval ratings in the wake of Hurricane Sandy and how Obama's ratings haven't been this high since ...since ...lord, Rush just can't remember when they were this high...

Rush Limbuagh: Politicians That Come Out Of Ohio Are/Have "Dry Balls?"

Rush Limbaugh is losing his mind, it's pretty awesome.

For example, just now he said politicians that come out of Ohio have "dry balls." I have no idea what that means but it's funny.

Non Update Update

The numbers have shifted by a whopping 0.5%. Not much to report.

Imus: Dick Morris Has Been in the Back of the Hotel with a Dog Collar On With a Hooker

Don Imus upon hearing that Dick Morris has predicted Romney by a landslide:

"That boy's been back in the hotel with a dog collar on. By the hooker. C'mon dude. That boy's lost his mind."

It's gonna be a fun day...

Election Markets Overnight

I'll be tracking the election markets hourly and probably posting every 3-4 hours.

Overnight there were some changes, most dramatic, one mild, all benefitting Obama.

Changes in terms of gap between the candidates:

InTrade: +7.2%
IEM: +1.1%
Betfair: +10.4%
Pinnacle: 9.9%

And overnight, Art Garfunkel turned 71.

GOP Acts to Disenfranchise Voters in Ohio

To all those who naively believe -- or intentionally pretend -- that the GOP push for Voter ID laws isn't about disenfranchising voters (that'd be you, @), we have more obvious and patently anti-democratic tactics from the GOP in Ohio.

A few weeks ago, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted successfully reduced early-voting weekends from one to five. Why? Because early voting on the weekends helps blue collar workers who might otherwise not be able to vote. A last-minute decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals forced Husted to reinstate the last weekend.

Darn.

Last Friday, at 6pm -- the last possible moment such an order could have been executed -- Husted issued a directive contrary to his own standard in how ballots are accepted.

In short, the standard Husted endorsed, and the process Ohio agreed to in a consent decree, declares that if a ballot is missing the type of ID used to verify the identity of the voter, the poll worker fills in this information.

Viz:

Ohio Rev. Code § 3505.181(B)(6) provides that, once a voter casting a provisional ballot proffers identification, "the appropriate local election official shall record the type of identification provided, the social security number information, the fact that the affirmation was executed, or the fact that the individual declined to execute such an affirmation and include that information with the transmission of the ballot . . . ."

The directive Husted entered at the last minute was to require that the voter enter this information themselves. Now, if the ballot is information is missing, the ballot worker fills in nothing, the poll worker does nothing, the information is missing and the ballot is not counted

But, you know, Republicans ONLY concern is that no voter fraud transpires.

Ayuh.

Election Market Numbers for November 4, 2012

Your 2012 Election Market numbers for the Sunday, November 4th, 2012.

We're beginning to see a bit of a rift between the US-based markets; Intrade moved 2% in Romney's direction, IEM did just the opposite.

The pro sports books have remained stable for the last two days.

The graph doesn't reflect this but Intrade has had the Electoral College at 281 for Obama, 235 for Romney every day except one (10/27). In the last three days, Obama's count has bumped to 290 thanks to Colorado occasionally moving from "tossup" to "leaning democrat."

Obama is averaging 72%, Romney is averaging 28%, a 46% spread with a little over two days left until the polling stations close.

GOGOGO.

Election Market Numbers for November 3, 2012

Your 2012 Election Market numbers for the day.

The pro books edged slightly toward Romney, the academic markets didn't move much.

Obama is averaging 72.1%, Romney is averaging 28.1, a 44% spread.

Buckyballs Banned

AND NO MORE HAPPINESS!

For F*ck's Sake, Postpone the NYC Marathon

UPDATE [17:18 EST] NYC MARATHON CANCELLED.

The decision to divert critical resources (generators, police) from the rescue effort to the NYC Marathon is unconscionable.

What the hell is Bloomberg thinking?

<edit>
I'm going to roll that back a little, Ed Koch just got on the air and defended the continuation of the marathon, apparently there is no shortage of generators, they're readily available.

I'm not unsympathetic to the argument that the marathon acts as a morale boost.

I'm still skeptical the police can't be used, however, I just got a dispatch from a fb friend saying they need people to monitor emergency work sites, direct traffic, etc.
</edit>

Post Despondency

Today's Election Market numbers.

I've changed the colors up a bit to make differentiating between them easier.

IEM has joined the professional books in tanking Romney, only InTrade is holding the line, three of the four markets dropping the GOP challenger 2.5-3% over night.

The wingnuts have skipped from denial right to depression, completely skipping anger and bargaining in the Kübler-Ross Stages of Grief.  I think they're going to slip back to anger in the final 48 hours.

High-Speed Photography Turns Water Droplets Into Liquid Sculptures

Seems ham-handed to mention Harold Edgerton but it also seems inappropriate to not.

Unemployment Steady, Conservatives Weep

Remember when the September jobs report came out, 114,000 jobs added, unemployment at 7.8%, the lowest in Obama's presidency, and conservatives had themselves a temper tantrum, claiming "these Chicago guys" (Obama & surrogates) had pressured the Bureau of Labor Statistics to put out bunk numbers?

October numbers out today, conservatives were certain those numbers would expose the lie.  Unemployment is at 7.9%, 171,000 jobs added.  This is nothing to cheer about to be sure but I'm listening to Don Imus and he sounds so deflated.

Haven't heard a single one even mention the September accusations much less hear the party of personal responsibility acknowledge the accusation was bullshit.

Christie Destroys Fox's Doocy, Samantha Bee Air Jerks on Jon Stewart

One of the best Daily Show clips in recent memory.

Steve Doocy of Fox News hopefully and impolitically suggests to Chris Christie -- governor of New Jersey, 2012 GOP Convention Keynote Speaker and Romney surrogate -- that Romney might "do some storm-related events" with Christie.

Christie destroys him on the spot and tells Doocy precisely what he thinks of political grandstanding when 2.4m of his constituents are suffering.

In boxing terms, Doocy would have been out cold before his head hit the canvas.

Plus we get the bonus visual of Samantha Bee performing an extended air jerk ASL-style which is itself a reason to watch.

Training for a Mini Triathlon (or How I Learned to Love DJ Bukem)

So I've been training for a mini-triathlon: 400m swim, 20 km bike, 5 km run.

I didn't say anything about it for the first month because you all know I'm Captain StartAProject. But as it stands, for the last month I've been getting up at like 7AM, driving Elia to work, stopping at the athletic center and getting in the pool.

At first it was kind of just show up and do what I felt like doing but it's now settled into a swim+run or swim+bike every day, never missing more than one day (when I can help it, they were closed for two days in a row this weekend).

The jagged appearance of the charts is on purpose. Sure, I could just make entries for the days I work out but by making entries even for days when I don't, I can visually track how different schedules (2-on-1-off-2-on vs. alternating days) affect my trend. And even with the dips, the trend is still obvious.

Scam Alert: R W Towing, Lee, Massachusetts

This is an open letter to AAA detailing my experience with R W Towing (RW's, RW Inc.) out of Lee, Massachusetts.  And by "experience," I mean a rather weak attempt by their douchebag employee to scam me out of a few hundred bucks.

I would definitely avoid doing business with this company.  Can't say I've ever seen anything this shady in my life.

Keep in mind that this is not a swipe at AAA, they were awesome, though they may want to reconsider doing business with these clowns.

----[%begin%]----

Dear AAA,

Your company has been with my family for as long as I can remember.  I'm getting old, so this is a significant portion of time.

We almost never need you.  I can't remember the last time we did.  And I can't remember any time where we had any complaints of any kind, so today came as kind of a shock.

My daughter's church group planned a get-together shopping event to Lee Outlet Malls in Lee, Massachusetts.  Upon finishing our shopping at the outlet, we discovered our car would not start.  I attempted a jump from my daughter's car, no luck, would not even turn over.

I realized I had AAA but I was unsure if this covered myself or my car I was travelling in.

I called my wife, she said she thought it covered *me* but was not sure, so I called AAA and the first thing out of my mouth was "Does my AAA membership cover myself or the car I'm in?"  The AAA representative said my membership covered me.

I requested a tow, and a local company ("R W Towing") was dispatched.

After a few minutes I receive a call from the towing company.  The woman on the other end sounded instantly and profoundly irritated.  I informed her of the situation, specifically told her that one car would be towed to Springfield while I went toward Albany; it is Father's Day, I'm a father, wife was waiting in Troy, NY, unfortunately the original plan to visit extended family in Chicopee would have to be scrapped due to the car difficulties.

A truck was dispatched.  It arrived in a reasonable amount of time.

The driver got out, walked to the front of the car, took one look at the Hispanic family in our group, and starts shaking his head.  I'm standing to his left.  He's not even looking at me while I'm speaking to him, he's just looking at the family, still shaking his head "no."

I don't know what he's saying "no" to.  I'm confused.  So I address the driver.

"We need to have this car towed to Springfield.  Do you need my AAA info?"

He's still shaking his head no, not saying anything.

"You don't need my membership info?"
"No."

I was told he would need it so now I'm even more confused.

"OK.  There are six people, I know you can only take two, so two are going to ride with you, the other four are getting a ride back separately."

Tow driver is still shaking his head "no."

"I can't take six people."
"You don't have to, two are going to ride with you, four are getting a ride back."

Tow driver is back to shaking his head.

"Who has the money?"  I point out the gentleman who is handling the payment, at which point the driver starts rattling off what this is going to cost.

"It's three dollars per mile, plus toll fees, plus a gas surcharge, plus a sixty dollar hookup fee..."

At his point I interrupt the guy.  This sounds wrong.

"We were told about the $3/mile after the first three miles, plus the tolls charge, nothing about a gas surcharge or a hookup fee."

"Well, that's what it'll cost."
"I'm going to call AAA."
"You can do whatever you want, it's going to be at least $250-$300."
"What's your name?"
"David Redstone."

At this point I walk away and start dialing.  The driver keeps talking to me in a pretty rude manner, telling me, in different ways, "that's what it costs and calling won't change that."

I ask him to stop talking to me.  Twice.  Three times.  By this time I'm definitely irritated and my voice is definitely louder.  This is as irate as I got with the driver and I certainly did not use anything approaching foul language.  I think I asked the driver to "chill out."

He's still talking, I walk away.

I get an AAA rep on the phone and start explaining the problem.

"You mean he wants to charge you more money than the mileage and tolls?"
"Yes."
"It sounds to me like he's trying to scam you."

The driver, meanwhile, has an epiphany, no doubt entirely unrelated to my being on the phone with AAA, and now he's quoting "$160-$170."  Remarkable.

I relate this to the AAA representative and tell him that the tow driver is attempting to jump the car, the AAA rep tells me, EMPHATICALLY, to NOT let the driver do anything to the car.  I put the phone down and tell the driver, "The AAA representative is telling me to tell you that you should not do anything with the car."

The driver replies, "OK," gets into his truck and drives off.

All of our jaws are on the ground.  The sun has been out all day so the ground is hot.  We pick up our jaws.

At this point I feel horrible because there is a very young child, it's *really* hot, and by following the AAA rep's advice, combined with the driver's beligerence, I've just set back our efforts to get back home by two hours, minimum.

I relate this information to the AAA rep.  He asks if he can put me on hold, no problem.

The rep who helped me was quite nice, I should mention.

While I am on hold I get a phonecall, it's the towing company, specifically the perpetually annoyed woman who I spoke to initially.  She sounds roughly as annoyed as she did during our first conversation.

"You have a problem with my driver?"
"I'll let AAA deal with that issue."

The woman pauses.

"It's not even *your* car."  She says this with an oddly smug "gotcha" tone.

I know this is not my car.  AAA knows this is not my car.  The fact that this was not my car was the very first thing I said to AAA when I called them to arrange the tow.

So either:

(a) The dispatcher is unaware of what services their agreement with AAA covers or;
(b) her mind was completely blown by the possibility of a caucasian riding with a hispanic family.

I ask her if there's anything else I can help her with.  She proceeds to berate me for being rude to the driver.  I hang up.

I'd like to understand a few things better.  Specifically:

• Why was the towing service demanding money in excess of their agreement with AAA and, by extension, me?
  
  
• What, exactly, convinced the driver that his quote was incorrect since he was not in contact with AAA, his garage or me during his sudden change of heart?
  
  
• Why did the towing service feel that the car not being owned by myself was germane to providing service?
  
  
• Why did the tow driver abandon us?
  
  
• Why did the towing service feel it was appropriate to call and berate me after the driver left?

AAA, we love you guys.  You've got a sterling reputation and this event won't result in my membership being cancelled.  But it IS important for me to trust that when I call AAA for service, I will recieve reasonably courteous service and, more importantly, actual service for the vehicle, without being scammed or abandoned.

I would suggest that your service agreement with this independent towing companies be reviwed so everyone is on the same page.

I would also suggest that this complaint be attached to "R W Towing" and reviewed when future business with this company is considered.

I complain about service just about never.  Almost every call I ever make to customer service, while rare, is to compliment good service because I've been in customer service most of my life, I know it's a difficult and (often) thankless job.

Thanks for your attention, I look forward to hearing back from you.

Sincerely,
Jason Desjardins
Member ID# [redacted]

Since twoplustwo.com got hacked, I figured I would share my password generation method.  By memorizing one very short number, such as 5724, plus some simple rules, you can create a strong, secure password that is unique for any site you use, without having to remember the password or use any kind of USB fob or password management software.

I'll just jump in with an example.

First, come up with your four numbers.  Doesn't matter what they are, I'll use the 5724 mentioned above.  What each of these numbers mean is some kind of rule (offset or addition) to our password.  My rules might look like this.

5 (go up five letters from the first letter of the domain)
7 (multiply the number of letters in the domain by 7)
2 (go up two letters from the last letter of the domain)
4 (capitalize the fourth letter)

After you've remembered your numbers and what they mean, there's no more remembering, the rest is just generating the password.

Suppose we wish to create a password for CNN.com.

Rule #1 says to go up five letters from the first letter in the domain, so "C" => "H".
Rule #2 says to multiply the number by the letters in the domain, 7x3 = 21.
Rule #3 says to go up two letters from the last letter of the domain, so "N" => "P".

So with our two letters we use the first three letters of a name.  Perhaps for this example, we turn H and P into "Harry" and "Peter," which would truncate to "har" and "pet."

Or if you're a fan of the phonetic alphabet, "Hot" and "Pap" (Hotel, Papa).

Combine these with the number and you wind up with har21pet.

Lastly, our final rule says to capitalize the fourth letter, so our password is now har21Pet.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

If a site you use gets hacked, it's very unlikely that they'll have your password to any site.  Further, by looking at the password, they'll have no idea how the domain name relates to your password -- cnn bears no resemblance to har21Pet -- and it's extremely unlikely that your password is har21Pet anywhere else.

Heck, add one more rule and it becomes extremely unlikely to have a dupe.  ie, your additional rule is to simply add the number of letters in the domain to the end, har21Pet becomes har21Pet3 in the case of CNN.

A Thorough Lambasting of "The Hunger Games"

I was crazy excited about this movie and when my wife agreed to the matinee, I thought today was my lucky day.

Well I was wrong.

Imagine going to a five star restaurant and getting a decent TV dinner. That's pretty much "The Hunger Games." Two hours and twenty two minutes of mediocrity.

The shaky-cam, something that normally doesn't phase me in the slightest, was pretty amped up for the first twenty minutes. Thankfully it didn't span the entire move.

The fight choreography was truly the bottom of the barrel, all shaky closeups, pans and cuts. How does a blockbuster screw up fight scenes in 2012?

The love-interest chemistry was so bad I couldn't quite tell if it was supposed to be there in the first place.

The villains were thin. The sardonic stablemaster was thin. The sympathetic figures were thin. The tragic figures were thin.

The elephant in the room, the implications for the human condition in having such a contest, isn't even winked at much less developed.

And with 142 minutes to work with, you'd think the ending would be something other than forced, rushed, boilerplate and almost laughable. If I had a nickel for every movie with this ending I'd ...well, I'd have a well-deserved refund.

In retrospect, the best part of the entire movie was realizing Donald Sutherlund was in it.

Even calling it mediocre is a bit of a compliment. There is literally nothing redeeming about this movie.

How they managed to get 80% of IMDB'ers to drink the coolaid is beyond me.

"In terms of the unemployment rate, look, I'm glad to see it come down, I'm glad that we've created jobs last month, I hope we continue to create jobs but let's not forget, the labor force particpation rate has dropped a full two percentage points since Obama took office..." - Ed Gillespie, Republican strategist, on Meet the Press

Wow. Let's take a look at the chart...



Yep, sure enough, down a full two percent.

Wait. Ah crap, that's 2000 through 2004, Bush's first term. My bad.

[Source: United States Dept. of Labor Statistics, 2000 - 2004]

This morning I received an email from The American Spectator. It's a conservative publication, I like to keep myself at least tangentially aware of how the political opposition thinks. Here's how it opens:

"Something very big will happen in America within the next 180 days. It will be more devastating than the credit crisis of 2008. For most people, it will hit them like a brick wall. It will touch Americans harder and deeper than anything else we've seen since the Great Depression."

Jesus. 180 days? Brick wall? I'd better investigate!

So I did. This Michael Lombardi person seemed like he knew what he was talking about. The article goes on to mention that the author "in 2006, [Mr. Lombardi] begged his readers to get out of the housing market...before it plunged. He was among the first (back in late 2006) to predict that the U.S. economy would be in a recession by late 2007. Michael correctly predicted the crash in the stock market of 2008 and early 2009."

Still, it involved buying something so point was moot. Then I did a search of my email archives and found:

9/19/2011 - "Something very big will happen in America within the next 180 days."
11/13/2011 - "Something very big will happen in America within the next 180 days."
12/1/2011 - "Something very big will happen in America within the next 180 days."
1/19/2012 - "Something very big will happen in America within the next 180 days."
1/18/2012 - "Something very big will happen in America within the next 180 days."

Clearly we have the second coming of Nostradamus in Mr. Lombardi. I do this sort of thing myself at red lights; every three seconds or so I go "light, become green!" and wave my hand. Works every time.

So I went to Google, used the advanced search option to look for this same phrase, turns out this warning was being pushed in banner-style advertisements as far back as late 2010.

Thank you, American Spectator, for being a shill for frauds. Not just any frauds, mind you, ones that could be sussed out by Jr. High School students with ten minutes and The Google. So your failure to catch it is, at worst, complicit and, at best, rank stupidity.

You will understand if I take your Obama prevarication with a salt lick.

Veteran Kickstarter, I need your help.

You've likely heard of Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church; they rose to fame when they protested the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a young man beaten because he was gay, and they've been spreading misery every since. They run around with signs (with suspiciously gay color palettes) reading "God Hates Fags," "God Hates America," etc.

God apparently hates all the same people Fred Phelps hates.

Well isn't that convenient.

Last year Phelps and Westboro decided to protest the funeral of a 9 year-old girl killed during the Gabrielle Giffords shooting.

That was kind of the last straw for me.

I've been working on plans for a website that will, in short, allow those targeted by Phelps (41,000 since 2001) to activate a turn-key, instantly-sharable website URL such as:

mychurch.thanksphelps.com

…that will allow visitors to donate money to the targeted cause by sponsoring Phelps and his entourage. In other words, for every minute that Phelps sticks around, or for every Westboro member that shows up, someone can donate some amount, perhaps $1 or $5, and Phelps will be raising money for the very people he intends to harm.

We will not be handling money. Sponsors will be sent instructions on how to mail/paypal their donations directly to the target.

While I came up with this idea about a decade ago, others have gone and done the same thing quite successfully on a one-off basis. Problem is, right now everyone targeted by Phelps that wants to do the same thing, each targeted group has to re-invent the wheel, figure out how to run this kind of campaign, generate media, create awareness, etc.

I'd like to make it easier.

So I thought Kickstarter might be a good fit. It'll take a few weeks to design the website and a few months to write it, not to mention a bit of advertising so people know it's a resource if Phelps plans on showing up. I also intend to devote a few hours each week to calling Phelps' hit list to let them know this resource is available.

I'm not sure what to make for rewards since the project isn't creating a tangible item. One idea is to simply put people's name on a backer list on the website. Or to send Phelps & Co. a nice postcard with a backer's name, thanking them for their fundraising efforts. =)

But I'd love to hear what ideas you have about how I could make some amazing rewards for the sponsors.

PS: I know this won't stop Phelps. It isn't designed to. Westboro isn't even motivated by the Bible like he claims, they just like to be seen as God's vanguards.

"When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward."

        Matthew 6:5-6

And there ain't nobody who likes to wear their religion more publicly than Westboro Baptist. Maybe that's why they're so angry.

He who warned the, the British that they weren't gonna be taking away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells and, um, by making sure that as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that, uh, we were gonna be secure and we were gonna be free, and we were gonna be armed...

Sarah Palin on Paul Revere

An open letter to Apple.

I'm posting this online because there is literally no support@apple.com and the local Apple store staff were unable to direct me to any means of contacting Apple electronically. I can purchase a one-off appointment with support but there's no point in throwing good money after bad.

To whom it may concern,

Sometime around mid 2007, I purchased a 13" Macbook. After thirty years of working exclusively with mainframes and various PC architectures, this was my first Mac, ever, and have recommended it to more people than I can possibly count.

These days, we have three Macs in the house; a iBook G4, a 13" MacBook and a brand new 13" MacBook Pro, purchased by my wife for her academic work just over one month ago.

The keyboard assembly to my MacBook has been replaced due to cracking. This is not a complaint, I think it's great that Apple is covering a known defect years after the standard warranty has expired.

Having said that, I just discovered that while my MacBook was actually inside its warranty period, I was misled by your staff regarding a problem which I am now, unfortunatley, stuck with.

About eight months after purchasing the machine, I discovered my mouse button was sticking. It had no "throw" left. Sometimes the effect was minor; there was less "click" to each press and sometimes the effect was far more consequential; the mouse pointer would grab files or menus without me using the mouse button at all.

I returned to my local Apple store (Northshore Mall, MA) on two occasions, describing my problem in detail. Both times I was met with confused looks and shrugs. It was very hard to actually demonstrate the problem since the issue appeared merely cosmetic most of the time.

Just today I read online that the problem is known, was known and is caused by a swelling battery. Sure enough, I remove the battery and the mouse button has full functionality again.

Had someone from your store identified the problem at the time I reported it, which I explained in detail, I would not need to spend $129 in order to replace the battery. Granted, this battery does not hold much of a charge after three years but since I'm always plugged in to power and never using the battery for any length of time, its only function has been to power the computer long enough for me to replace the cord that may have fallen or been pulled out.

It's my first lousy experience with an Apple product or Apple Customer Care to date.

Sincerely,
Jason Desjardins
jason@pho7o.com
serial: W87271AGYQ7

Dear Annoying Legal Firm,

The bill you are collecting on has already been paid. The whole $5.48.

We've also been in contact with various entities regarding this bill, including the hospital and people representing the hospital, to correct this matter. Everyone we speak with seems to find the copy of the check just fine, but the demands to pay this already-paid bill haven't stopped.

You are but the latest.

Unfortunately, paying $5.48 I don't owe simply to be rid of you, while probably sane, just isn't in my nature. Hopefully you can appreciate my position.

Enclosed is a copy of the bill and a copy of the cashed check.

If you require further assistance correcting this mistake, I will be happy to help at the rate of $100.00/hr, 1-hour minimum, net 30.

Sincerely,
Jason Desjardins

Brief intro for all my non-political friends...

Mary Matalin is a republican flack. James Carville is a democratic flack. They're both assholes.

Having said all that, Mary Matalin slips up, calls 'em teabaggers live on CNN, Carville just starts giggling.

The look on Matalin's face is f'ing priceless. I could watch this clip all day.

Cheer up bro. Srsly.

It's Cheer Up Keanu Reeves Day. Which I think is excellent.

My daughter has discovered Scissor Sisters. lol.

So ...some of you might recall that a few months back I found a Dyson DC18 on the side of the road, registered it, then sent it in for repair for free.

Well it took about 2.5 months. We'd call the repair shop every 1-2 weeks, apparently Dyson didn't have the parts, they were on back-order, etc. Eventually we got the vacuum back and weren't too pissed at the long wait because, hey, we got a $200 vacuum for free, right?

Earlier this week I get a note from UPS saying they had a package for me. Weird, I'm not expecting anything.

So yesterday I pick it up, open it, it's a Dyson DC18.

Near as I can tell, someone in the loop eventually said "just send them a refurb." At some point the original machine gets into some queue to get fixed and eventually sent back to us.

So now I have two Dyson DC18's for which I've paid precisely nothing. w00t.

My sixteen-year hiatus from televisions came to a crashing halt today. 32", which I think is lolsmall, but Elia thinks is lolbig, is now attached to a Wii. In my living room.

The controls are just sick. I can do archery just fine but I toss a frisbee like a Rainbow brigade, apparently.

"That was not a love boat. That was a boat of hatred. It was not a peaceful flotilla. The [armed] soldiers who boarded the ships [in international waters] were attacked by [peaceful people defending themselves with the only weapons they had available to them.]"

FYP, Netanyahu.

It's kind of like a David and Goliath story. I dunno, maybe that should strike a chord with you...

Check me out.



First real job I've had in ~8 years. PHP, jquery, JSON (ironically enough) and Ajax.

I'm currently loving life.

Ella: Did I mention I've finally figured out what the fuck I'm going to do with my life?!

Me: Negative. Selling small children on 3rd world markets?

Ella: No, but now I wish I'd thought of that... I'm going to be a art therapist! Which means I have a metric fuckton of schooling to do.

Me: You mean ...ask paintings shit like "tell me about your mother?"

Ella: Believe it or not, you and Jim had the exact same smartass response. :P

You hear the new Droid is going to be called the Droid Incredible? If they're gonna give it a name, why can't they make it cool like ...Droid Pirate Roberts?

- overheard

When my father died, he was 37 years, 9 months and 16 days old.

Yesterday I turned 37, 9 months and 16 days old.

Starting yesterday my daughter was living here, in Troy, though the duration is currently up for grabs.

The universe has a sense of humor.

Best crank call you'll ever hear; kid looking for a demo company to take out her school.

Extremely cool. Know your roots.

Flight out of Detroit has been cancelled so I'm up on the wifi, chatting wif Elia, playing poker, reading itmademyday.com and pirating the hot 100 while watching the sun go down. I hate to admit it but "Party in the U.S.A." is catchy as hell.

"The person of interest in the deaths of four officers in Washington state had his 95-year sentence commuted by then-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, authorities said."

CNN.com

Huckabee is so f*cked.

Can you say "Dukakis?" I knew that ya could...

My sweat smells like peanuts!!

This hit our back window and died in my hands about five minutes afterward. Suck.

Someone has tentatively identified it as a nighthawk.

[edit: The ID has been adjusted -- correctly, I believe -- to be a roughed grouse.]

"You know, that would have been a whole lot sexier if you'd said it without yawning..."

Remember last week when I had to go into town and I got the driving instructions from mapquest and you made me take the GPS as a back-up but then halfway there the GPS is all “Turn left now” and I’m all “No. Mapquest says to go straight” and it’s like “TURN LEFT NOW” and I’m all “No way, bitch” and then she’s all sighing at me like she’s frustrated and she keeps saying “Recalculating” in this really judgey, condescending way and then she’s all “TURN LEFT NOW!” and then I’m all freaked out so I turn left exactly like she says and then she’s all “Recalculating. Recalculating.” and I’m like “I DID EXACTLY WHAT YOU SAID TO DO. WHAT’S WITH THE TONE, WHORE?”

Found on some blog.

So I'm in Ohio.

Let me tell you something about Cambridge cops...

I've had my property illegally confiscated by Cambridge cops.

I've been refused an officer's ID by Cambridge cops.

I've had Cambridge cops make up law out of thin air.

I've actually had to deescalate several of them at once. I thought that was their job?!

I've had Cambridge cops violate my 1st Amendment rights as well as my rights under the 16th Article of the Massachusetts Constitution.

I've had Boston cops violate those same rights as well, arrest me, then lie through their teeth to justify their actions.

Ella asked me the other day what I thought of the Cambridge professor arrest and I said I didn't know what happened, so I couldn't quite say.

But what I can infer from my not-insignificant experience with officers in this geography is that they do not take kindly to being told they are outside their legal authority, they do not know the law, when they do know the law they willfully choose to disregard it and they are not above lying in sworn testimony.

I proposed. She said yes. =)

Nobody blogs anymore.

SCORE!! Just bought Michael Jackson concert tickets for his London show!

w00t.

I'd like to ask "What is Ahmadinejad thinking?" but the answer is probably "Hey, it only took China 20 years post-Tiananmen to get the fucking Olympics..."

I have an Arlen Specter story.

The year is 1995 (iirc). I'm working the night shift audit/front desk at the Manchester, NH Holiday Inn. The Republicans had their convention the night prior and I'm checking out a jabillion people.

Me, making small-talk:

"Are you with the press pool?"
"No, I'm just one of the pieces of meat."
"Hm?"
"I'm one of the pieces of meat."
[...] "I'm sorry, I'm completely confused."
"I'm a politician."

I looked up and sure enough, Arlen Specter.

I like the guy. I can see why he left his party. He has a long history of holding a lot of feet to a lot of fires but he never seems to drop the hammer so I've got no huge ideas about him being some vote lock.

Still, everyone's fixated on the political expedience but what's more sincere a motive than to be elected by the people with whom you share more views than less?

This is basically what happened to me in Boston.

Well, except I wasn't agreeing to leave. =)

The Army is pressuring doctors to under-diagnose PTSD. Why?

The answer probably has to do with money. "Each diagnosis is an acknowledgment that psychiatric casualties are a huge price tag of this war," said Rudd. "It is easiest to dismiss these casualties because you can't see the wounds. If they change the diagnosis they can dismiss you at a substantially decreased rate."

David Rudd, the chairman of Texas Tech's department of psychology and a former Army psychologist, explaining that every dollar the Army spends on a soldier's benefits is a dollar lost for bullets, bombs or the soldier's incoming replacement.

Oh, but wait -- it gets better! There's tapes! Seems a soldier who had problems remembering things brought along a digital voice recorder. Great stuff.

"OK," McNinch told Sgt. X. "I will tell you something confidentially that I would have to deny if it were ever public. Not only myself, but all the clinicians up here are being pressured to not diagnose PTSD and diagnose anxiety disorder NOS [instead]." McNinch told him that Army medical boards were "kick[ing] back" his diagnoses of PTSD, saying soldiers had not seen enough trauma to have "serious PTSD issues." "Unfortunately," McNinch told Sgt. X, "yours has not been the only case ... I and other [doctors] are under a lot of pressure to not diagnose PTSD. It's not fair. I think it's a horrible way to treat soldiers, but unfortunately, you know, now the V.A. is jumping on board, saying, 'Well, these people don't have PTSD,' and stuff like that."

This will go down like Abu Ghraib, no doubt. Just a few rogues, nothing to see here, move along.

[edit] ...and now the VA "has launched an investigation into whether there is a connection between improperly sterilized endoscopy equipment and a veteran's positive HIV test."

Is it beyond the pale to wonder if cost-cutting wasn't involved here, too?

Hutesium et clamor from Boss Limbaugh if it happened on a Clinton's watch but right now not a peep.

Hm.

Dear newspaper editor; I DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT THE OCTUPLET MOM.

Move on.

Last week a complete stranger walked up to me and gave me an upright piano.

This warrants repeating; someone I didn't know said "Hey, do you want a piano?" Elia and I said "sure." It's about four hundred pounds.

I'm learning the piano.

Obama just recently relaxed US policy toward Cuba.

"Otto Reich, who served presidents Reagan and both Bushes in a number of high-level Latin American posts, also testified Wednesday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee [and said] he did not like the Cuba provisions in the budget because the United States gets nothing in return."

Imagine that! Doing something without the intent of getting something out of it.

I don't know what to call it, geez. Maybe ...Christ-like?

Sounds like the antithesis of Bush policy.

Perhaps our last election should give Mr. Reich not-insignificant pause.

The end of the story.

RIP Paul Harvey

This notepad was found on the street by Elia.

And no, not kidding.

An oldie but a goodie.

The letter Michael Phelps should have written

Dear America,

I take it back. I don’t apologize.

Because you know what? It’s none of your goddamned business. I work my ass off 10 months per year. It’s that hard work that gave you all those gooey feelings of patriotism last summer. If during my brief window of down time I want to relax, enjoy myself, and partake of a substance that’s a hell of a lot less bad for me than alcohol, tobacco, or, frankly, most of the prescription drugs most of you are taking, well, you can spare me the lecture.

I put myself through hell. I make my body do things nature never really intended us to endure. All world-class athletes do. We do it because you love to watch us push ourselves as far as we can possibly go. Some of us get hurt. Sometimes permanently. You’re watching the Super Bowl tonight. You’re watching 300 pound men smash each while running at full speed, in full pads. You know what the average life expectancy of an NFL player is? Fifty-five. That’s about 20 years shorter than your average non-NFL player. Yet you watch. And cheer. And you jump up spill your beer when a linebacker lays out a wide receiver on a crossing route across the middle. The harder he gets hit, the louder and more enthusiastically you scream.

Yet you all get bent out of shape when Ricky Williams, or I, or Josh Howard smoke a little dope to relax. Why? Because the idiots you’ve elected to make your laws have have without a shred of evidence beat it into your head that smoking marijuana is something akin to drinking antifreeze, and done only by dirty hippies and sex offenders.

You’ll have to pardon my cynicism. But I call bullshit. You don’t give a damn about my health. You just get a voyeuristic thrill from watching an elite athlete fall from grace–all the better if you get to exercise a little moral righteousness in the process. And it’s hypocritical righteousness at that, given that 40 percent of you have tried pot at least once in your lives.

Here’s a crazy thought: If I can smoke a little dope and go on to win 14 Olympic gold medals, maybe pot smokers aren’t doomed to lives of couch surfing and video games, as our moronic government would have us believe. In fact, the list of successful pot smokers includes not just world class athletes like me, Howard, Williams, and others, it includes Nobel Prize winners, Pulitzer Prize winners, the last three U.S. presidents, several Supreme Court justices, and luminaries and success stories from all sectors of business and the arts, sciences, and humanities.

So go ahead. Ban me from the next Olympics. Yank my endorsement deals. Stick your collective noses in the air and get all indignant on me. While you’re at it, keep arresting cancer and AIDS patients who dare to smoke the stuff because it deadens their pain, or enables them to eat. Keep sending in goon squads to kick down doors and shoot little old ladies, maim innocent toddlers, handcuff elderly post-polio patients to their beds at gunpoint, and slaughter the family pet.

Tell you what. I’ll make you a deal. I’ll apologize for smoking pot when every politician who ever did drugs and then voted to uphold or strengthen the drug laws marches his ass off to the nearest federal prison to serve out the sentence he wants to impose on everyone else for committing the same crimes he committed. I’ll apologize when the sons, daughters, and nephews of powerful politicians who get caught possessing or dealing drugs in the frat house or prep school get the same treatment as the no-name, probably black kid caught on the corner or the front stoop doing the same thing.

Until then, I for one will have none of it. I smoked pot. I liked it. I’ll probably do it again. I refuse to apologize for it, because by apologizing I help perpetuate this stupid lie, this idea that what someone puts into his own body on his own time is any of the government’s damned business. Or any of yours. I’m not going to bend over and allow myself to be propaganda for this wasteful, ridiculous, immoral war.

Go ahead and tear me down if you like. But let’s see you rationalize in your next lame ONDCP commercial how the greatest motherfucking swimmer the world has ever seen . . . is also a proud pot smoker.

Yours,

Michael Phelps

she is the Janet, her name is Leah, she's pre-med, and oh yeah, most importantly, I AM GOING TO HIT THAT LIKE THE FIST OF AN ANGRY GOD, OH YES

there is no other metaphor for how badly i want to swan dive into her goodies

Ella on her Rocky exploits.

"Well I figured a more simple way to amuse my 1.5 year old kid. When I get back from work I just take anything off and give it to him. Once I said HEEEY SEE WHAT DADDY GOT YOU and took my socks off. He loved it crazy. I felt really sorry for him :P If only he knows what I really gave him."

Overheard in 10 Ways To Entertain Young Children for $1 or Less Without the TV.

I wrote some code. It does neat things.

Big progress. w00t.

OK. I'm noticing a trend on Youtube...

There's a little bar labeled "Recommended for You." Here's mine:



Mia? OK, I can see that. I've probably looked up a video of hers at some point.

And there's Real Genius a little further down the list. I think I looked it up to explain the Jordan character to Elia.

It's the second one that's remarkable...

Huge amazone wrestle.

And the description is clutch: "Amazon [spelled correctly] woman wrestling little black man.

And what's with the "part two?" A sequel? Really? Because there were so many unanswered questions in the first one?

OK, maybe it got keyed from my frequent MMA searches but yipes, d00d.

RIP Bettie Page.

The teen was shot as he tried to throw a fuel-filled bomb at the officers (says a police statement about the boy's death), police said. Other youths -- often referred to in Greece as "the known-unknowns" -- converged on the site almost immediately, using texting and Web sites to organize and communicate.

Huh.

OK, wtf is wrong with it?

Yeah. Gravity Bomb is back.

It occurs to me that a big problem I had, in its previous incarnation, was trying to do a few subjects per show. But I'd spend many hours on each, publish once a week, and by then the issue was somewhat beaten to death by the media. ZzZzz.

So why not just pick a story, a subject, an audio clip and a response, then publish that as a podcast. Microcasting? The podcasting equivalent of Twitter? Dunno. I'm sure someone has thought of it before me.

More soon.

She smells of the sun
and she's constantly saying
that's it's all right,
because lies sound so nice.
And like soil to seed goes
to casting my fears aside...

She says,
  "The satellite is coming". I pray,
  the wrecking ball is waining."

She says,
 "The satellite is coming.
 It's come to take us home."

     BT - satelite

These are an important four years.

So ...I might very well be reviving my political podcast, Gravity Bomb. Not entirely sure atm but if McCain wins it's just about definite.

And quick shout-out to Shira Chess who is doing her thesis on social networks in MMORPGs.

Courtesy of Ella.

Rant #1

So I was aware that what ACORN does is, by any rational standard, legit. They hire people to register voters and got swindled by some wage-earners trying to make a fast buck by making up fake names to make quota. ACORN flags the applications they believe to be falsified and they are forbidden, by law, from not turning them in.

I've yet to hear a conservative offer what they think ACORN should have done differently. That's because it's easier to be ominous and deal in innuendo when you haven't got a leg to stand on.

[Yes, Bill-O the Clown, I'm looking at you...]

Further, for these fake registrations to become actual votes, Mickey Mouse (yes, one of the names was Mickey Mouse) would need to show up with a valid ID in-hand and actually vote.

Good luck.

But maybe I'm living in a cave because I completely missed this:


I think it's important for people to know exactly what is happening. We do massive voter registration to low- and moderate-income folks. The Right Wing and Republicans, specifically, have been coming for us since the 2000 and 2004 elections. Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales sent U.S. attorneys after us to investigate and try to find a prosecutable action. In 2006, the reason he stepped down is that he fired eight attorneys because they kept coming back to him saying, "There's no evidence; ACORN is clean."

Bertha Lewis - Executive Director of NY ACORN.


So let me get this straight...

A conservative administration gives politically-independent state prosecutors a choice; "Bust ACORN or you're fired. It doesn't matter if there's evidence or not, we're quite sure they're guilty. If you can't, you're clearly incompetent and we'll bring someone in who can."

Huh.

If this party, these self-labeled "strict constructionists," have such little reverence for the 5th, 6th and 14th Amendments of the United States Constitution -- the foundation of the right to be presumed innocent -- then it's fitting that We, the People, should show them the door.

I'm sure McCain would appreciate the irony if he was only capable of noticing it.

Rant #2

I am, for the first time during this election, sure that Obama is going to win. Why? Because the Palin/McCain ticket is imploding. I saw some story on CNN about a McCain spokesperson referring to Palin as "a diva" and "going rogue."

Jesus H. on a greased-up pogo stick. That's rather severe language from a running mate's own camp.

And while we're on the topic, wasn't Palin's raison d'être the whole "mavericky" appeal?

So I hit news.google.com around 5PM and found this:



Three stories. Hm.

Four hours later, I get home and check again:



1,256 stories. Moahahahaha. Christmas in fucking October.

Rant #3

Yes, people lie to pollsters but nobody lies to their bookie.

Intrade is a company that trades in the political futures market. You can buy stock in a given party/candidate being elected to the White House. Here's the trading for the last thirty days:

I was pretty pumped last week when I got my first viable reply to a resume sent.

He explained, between other demands for his attention and a constantly ringing phone, the needs of his site. Some text changed here, some forms work there, etc.

No problem.

I understood this within the context of someone who actually read my resume.

I was getting pretty confused because serious web design and development takes hours of back and forth to make sure that everyone is on the same page and the goals are met. This guy was kinda like "I want the the site fixed, go do it, goodbye."

Turns out what he need is a .NET developer. I am not a .NET developer.

In his defense, the kids handling this for him just up and left for college. I don't think he even knew what technologies were involved or the scope of the job as a whole. He seems like a nice enough guy, actually.

So back to Craigslist.

Oh, and to the peanut gallery denizens who were positive Elia and I would fail, eat a dick. We're doing great.

• Seeing Rebekah and Kathy and Nick this weekend. w00t.

• Learning bass guitar. Egad. Gotta keep reminding myself; baby steps and blisters, baby steps and blisters. And I'm learning by -- get this -- playing loops on Reason and following along. Sad, I know, but I haven't been bored yet.

• GOT A NIBBLE ON A RESUME. *fingers crossed

• Going to see Stephen !@#$ing Colbert a week before the election. How cool am I?

• Got hired for a wedding photography gig.

Elia and I are still spectacular but not much to report. We're pretty boring people. Mostly we just prod each other to be more productive, canoodle and play Scrabble.

Some pics since it's been a while...

Bek is getting OLD.


Kathy and Ella before she left for Georgia.


Slinky the dawg.

On Saturday, Sarah Palin will be appearing before 8,000 rabid supporters at the Home Depot Center Tennis Stadium in Carson, California. A member of our community suggested that the best way for the Courage Campaign to "welcome" her would be to rent an airplane and fly a large banner over the event.

And that's exactly what we're going to do. With the national spotlight shining on Sarah Palin right now, we want YOU to send her a message she will never forget. [...] The big question: What should the banner message say, in 50 characters or less?

Hm. I have a suggestion.

SARAH CAN SEE US-DOES THAT MEAN SHE'S A PILOT TOO?

Fifty characters. Exactly.

Republicans today voted 2-to-1 against a 700 BILLION spending bill to bail out the American economy. Who do they hold responsible for failing to pass the measure? The Democrats who voted 2-to-1 FOR the failure measure, of course!

Their logic? Nancy Pelosi gave a speech they didn't like.

I'm not kidding.

Clearly they didn't have the votes to begin so hey, why not take another trip to the distraction well that has served them so generously for the last decade?

I've got a really simple question for the thin-skinned GOPers who claim Pelosi's speech tainted their vote; Were you going to vote yes before the speech?

If not then it's a lie and they now all stand guilty of doing precisely what they're accusing the Speaker of the House of doing.

If so, and they truly believed that this spending bill was the correct and necessary thing to do, they're really willing to let the economy go tits-up because their feelings got hurt?

Liars or wimps. Take your pick.

Dig it.



Life in Troy is good. Working some part-time retail, some web design work (for a company I worked for eleven years ago and, oddly enough, purchased by a company I worked for five years ago), some photography. Mostly keeping busy, mostly.

Every bloody bodega sells scales here. I think that's a hoot.

Perestroika can kiss my shiny, white ass.

"You know it's been five days."
"Five days?"
"Five."
[holds up fingers] "Five?"
[grabbing my fingers, clearing throat] "This little piggy went to market. This little piggy stayed home. This little piggy had roast beef, er, roast tofu..."
"Roast beef!"
"Roast tofu. This little piggy had none. And this little piggy went weeee wee wee wee wee wee five fucking days."

Holy fuzzing shizzle. Starts great, ends twice as good. Ow.

That's an embryonic stem cell.

Think about it.

Obama says families of politicians are off-limits and doubly so for their children. Clearly the conservatives have different plans.

Notes CNN:

...Sarah Palin's announcement Monday that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant -- and she supports her daughter -- shows that the Alaska governor is steadfast in her support of family values, GOP loyalists and anti-abortion groups say.

So the wingnuts are not only using the daughter's decision as a political marker but lauding Palin for a decision she didn't actually make.

Well ...OK, we all know that the conversation didn't involve the phrase "whatever you decide, we support you."

Which makes me wonder how the wingnuts would respond if Bristol opted for an abortion and Mrs. Palin stood beside her?

Is abandoning your daughter a family value too?

The last 24 hours have been the political equivalent of crack cocaine.

First, Daily Kos murmured that Palin's fifth child, Trig (who has Down's Syndrome), wasn't actually hers. This evidenced by the fact that Palin, despite having been pretty goddamn round during previous pregnancies, was imperceptibly pregnant this time around. She didn't announce the pregnancy until her seventh month and even her staff was baffled.

Meanwhile Palin's daughter, Bristol, was sporting what appeared to be a baby bump while taking five months off school for "mono." Hm.

Finally, the official narrative was that Gov. Palin's water broke before she was due to give a keynote speech to an energy summit of governors in Dallas. Not only did she give the keynote speech anyway, she subsequently hopped on an 11-hour flight back to Alaska for no other reason than to insure the child was born in the state in which she holds office.

"You can't have a fish picker from Texas," said her husband. Very nice.

Turns out Palin really is the mom. How do we know this? Because her daughter, now seventeen, is five months pregnant (and therefore could not be the mother of a baby that was born in April).

Was it reasonable to wonder aloud if Palin was actually Trig's mother? I think so. Was it responsible for Kos to declare Palin's assertion of maternity "lies" without something more substantial? No.

Having said that, what can we make of Palin's decision to put off her delivery of a baby known to have Down's Syndrome for 22 hours so she could deliver a keynote speech and, by her own admission, not have the child born in Texas?

Seems a bit reckless, don't you think? Maybe like her priorities are just a little out of whack?

And while I'll grant that Bristol's actions are not her mother's, this is where the story makes me warm and slightly giddy. The wingnuts have been the ones caterwauling "it's a private family matter!" Leaving aside their rather selective application of this standard, guess which demographic this is likely to have lasting resonance with?

Yep. The fundamentalists who wonder how an abstinence-only supporter could wind up as a shotgun wedding doyenne.

Got an email from the McCain camp. I subscribe for the lolz.

John McCain says we need offshore oil drilling and we need it now. Senator Barack Obama has consistently opposed offshore drilling - calling it a "gimmick." Senator Obama's solution to high gas prices is telling Americans to make sure their tires are inflated.

Today, I'm asking for your help in putting Senator Obama's "tire gauge" energy policy to the test. With an immediate donation of $25 or more, we will send you an "Obama E nergy Plan" tire pressure gauge. Will simply inflating your tires reduce the financial burden of high gas prices on your wallet?

Lessee...

Inflating your tires will save, approximately, 3.3% on fuel costs. A family who fills their 20-gallon tank every other week will spend $2,080. Making sure their tires are properly inflated will save that family $68.64. And, it bears mentioning, cause less greenhouse gasses to be emitted while costing that family ...nothing!

McCain's plan to drill offshore would wreck more habitats, wouldn't cause any change in pump prices until at least 2018 and even then the effect would be pennies per gallon.

Or about as much as Obama's suggestion would save that family today.

McCain is tacitly suggesting that the tire gauge suggestion is the alpha and the omega of Obama's energy plan. Kind of like when Bush, post-9/11, told everyone to go out and shop. And buy lots of duct tape.

My god, I hope McCain keeps selling those tire gauges.

Well this is going to be a long post...

The Life

First and foremost, I met an amazing woman and I'm moving to Troy, NY to be with her.





Elia...

• plays the harp, piano and violin,
  
• has a double masters in Linguistics and Physics from Rensselaer (which means I'm positively housed in Scrabble about 93% of the time),
  
• knows how to read her email in pine and
  
• is a vegetarian who owns a shotgun.
  

She's thoughtful, insightful, doesn't confuse an attack on her ideas with an attack on her and so easy with a smile. Absolutely wonderful.

But of course these facts don't even begin to take her measure. By turns of fate I will probably never understand, but appreciate nonetheless, we found and fell in love with each other.

So yes, after four years I'm leaving Rockport and the only real family I've ever known. I'm going to miss them something terrible.

The Rant (#1)

Remember way back in 2007, there was a bomb scare in Boston because a couple of guys planted Lite-Brite-esque cartoon characters all over Boston? The boys in blue went apoplectic and shut down ...well, pretty much the entire city. Some people said it was an overreaction, some said it was due vigilance and those responsible for placing the devices were foolish.

In any case, the pair responsible were arrested, dragged through the public mud and arraigned on charges of seeking "attention by causing fear and unrest that there was a bomb in that location." Eventually the charges were dropped.

Fast forward last week in Texas. Santikos Theater decided to promote The Dark Night by sending a local TV station a chocolate cake with a fake bomb planted inside.

What happens? The cops showed up. The firemen showed up. The bomb squad showed up. Then the theater apologized and, naturally, no charges were filed. Hell, the goddamn police chief went on-camera to vouch for the good intentions of those responsible.



Nevermind that the intent of the theater actually WAS to suggest an actual bomb.

The difference in these two incidents? One was caused by an undoubtedly large tax bill-paying movie chain and the other was two guys in their mid-20's.

It's nice to know people can get the justice they afford.

The Rant (#2)

Maryland State police infiltrated ...an anti-death penalty group? They uncovered no wrongdoing, no laws broken and no plans to engage in violent protest nor was the infiltration instigated by any such plans. They just thought that anti-death penalty groups might have been a good place to look for violent protesters.

Seriously.

State lawmakers are beginning an investigation into the whole mess which is great but this is the line that gets me:

"...state police indicated they believe laws limiting their power are not necessary."

Why the police would object to a law limiting activity that is illegal in the first place?

And if a state police violation of the requirement that a reasonable suspicion is a precursor to investigation isn't cause enough to limit their authority, what is??

Cue Lenny Bruce:



"Since the Constitution says that -- there has to be judicial superintendence -- that no peace officer has any place talking to anyone or making any inquiry whatsoever, a search warrant is prerequisite to the inquiry. Because if he's allowed to make any investigation, for a noise even, then he's allowed to make determinations of who looks suspicious. And the only people who look suspicious to Jews are Irish Drunks. So it's all bullshit conclusions."

The rant (#3)

A few days ago, Andrea Mitchell said something a bit odd on Hardball with Chris Matthews:

"Let me say something about [Obama's] message management. He didn’t have reporters with him. He didn’t have a press pool. He didn’t do a press conference while he was on the ground either on Afghanistan or Iraq. What you’re seeing is not reporters brought in, you’re seeing selected pictures taken by the military, questioned by the military and what some would call fake interviews because they’re not interviews with a journalist so there’s a real press issue here. Politically it’s smart as can be, but we’ve not seen a Presidential candidate do this in my recollection ever before."

Andrea has always been a GOP shill, that's not news, but AFAIK she didn't have anything to say about Sen. McCain simply refusing to answer questions from the Wall Street Journal because he wasn't happy with the press they'd been giving him.