Here.
And they are threatening the families.
How much do you want to bet that the good citizens of Jena will keep their stores open for this.
Month: September 2007
Rudy’s Particularly Egregious Pimping of 9/11
Some git by the name of Abraham Sofaer is holding a $9.11 For Rudy” Fundraiser for the Guiliani campaign.
Allow me to say ewwwww!
We Now Know Karl Rove’s New Client
It’s Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, who yesterday said that, Civil war has been averted in Iraq and Iranian intervention there has ceased to exist.
Ari Fleischer would be proud of him.
Microsoft Admits that Vista Sucks Wet Farts from Dead Pigeons
Of course, they don’t say it straight out, but Microsoft is now offering a “rollback to XP” tool for some corporate accounts.
I’m never one for buying Microsoft software until at least a year after it comes out, but this is un-bloody-believable.
Apple Threatens iPhone Users
Apple is now claiming that iPhones that have been hacked to be usable with non AT&T phone services may shut down when the push out their next software update.
“This has nothing to do with proactively disabling a phone that is unlocked or hacked,” Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, said in an interview. “It’s unfortunate that some of these programs have caused damage to the iPhone software, but Apple cannot be responsible for … those consequences.”
Bull. Apple is threatening its users for what they do to their phones, and just as with the iPods, it’s setting out to break the phones, and the hacks.
No Nuclear Weapons Technology in Syria
Accordiong to Raw Story, the Israeli airstrike two weeks ago did not target a nuclear weapons facility, but was insteaddirected at a short range ballistic missile (SCUD type) missile depot. It was apparently brought on by a weapons handling accident in which chemical weapons were released, killing around 50 people.
It was thought to be an attempt to place chemical warheads on the missile.
Considering the paucity of the Syrian nuclear effort, one small research reactor that produces medical isotopes, one wonders who was spreading the rumor of nuclear weapons activity.
Pay Per View Review
Our previous cable service was plain vanilla, no cable box, so now we get pay per view, and we checked out a movie list night, Happily N’Ever After, one of the more recent CGI movies to hit the small screen.
Cast:
George Carlin: The Wizard (Sort of)
Andy Dick: Mambo
Sarah Michelle Gellar: Ella
Michael McShane: Rumplestiltskin
Freddie Prinze Jr.: Rick
Wallace Shawn: Munk
Patrick Warburton: Prince Humperdink
Sigourney Weaver: Frieda
George Carlin is amusing, but he has perhaps 3 minutes screen time in this retelling of the Cinderella story, which is juxtaposed with the metaphysics of fairy tales.
Patrick Warburton and Wallace Shawn do a journeyman job of playing…Patrick Warburton and Wallace Shawn, and they are amusing.
For once, Andy Dick is not repellent
Sigourney Weaver is a wonderful evil stepmother, easily the strongest performance of the movie, with Weaver at her scenery chewing best. What’s more, she is the sexiest animated character since Jessica rabbit, and far more interesting, both libidinally and in terms of character development.
but the two leads, Gellar and Prinze are somewhat lackluster.
Freddy Prince, who plays Rick, performs well as the Prince Humperdink’s dogsbody and dishwasher, but Gellar’s performance as Ella is rather lackluster. Some of this is not her fault, as the character is written to be a bit of a ninny.. It doesn’t help that the stepmom is way hotter.
The plot, and plot device are a bit contrived, but I enjoyed it, and more importantly, my kids enjoyed it.
It’s amusing, if fluffy, and the hidden movie references will amuse the adults watching with their kids.
And of course, the happy ending.
Sounds Like the UAW Strike is On.
Sounds like they are expecting that there will be a strike, but perhaps it’s posturing, sometimes the rhetoric ratchets up just before a settlement.
UAW shocked by GM’s failure to recognize worker contributions; sets strike deadline for 11 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 24
The UAW announced today that due to the failure of General Motors to address job security and other mandatory issues of bargaining, the union has set a firm strike deadline for 11 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 24.
“We’re shocked and disappointed that General Motors has failed to recognize and appreciate what our membership has contributed during the past four years,” said UAW President Ron Gettelfinger. “Since 2003 our members have made extraordinary efforts every time the company came to us with a problem: the corporate restructuring, the attrition plan, the Delphi bankruptcy, the 2005 health care agreement. In every case, our members went the extra mile to find reasonable solutions.
“Throughout this time period,” said Gettelfinger, “it has been the dedication of UAW members that has helped GM set new standards for safety, quality and productivity in their manufacturing facilities. And in this current round of bargaining, we did everything possible to negotiate a new contract, including an unprecedented agreement to stay at the bargaining table nine days past the expiration of the previous agreement.”
“This is our reward: a complete failure by GM to address the reasonable needs and concerns of our members,” said UAW Vice President Cal Rapson, director of the union’s GM Department. “Instead, in 2007 company executives continued to award themselves bonuses while demanding that our members accept a reduced standard of living.
“The company’s disregard for our members has forced our bargaining committee to take this course of action,” said Rapson. “Unless UAW members hear otherwise between now and the deadline, we will be on a national strike against GM at 11 a.m. EDT on Monday, Sept. 24th.”
The UAW negotiating team will remain at the bargaining table, Rapson said, throughout the night and up until the 11 a.m. deadline.
Nothing yet on CNN about a strike starting, though.
Update: it appears that the balloon has gone up. The UAW is now on strike against GM.
Unfortunate Headlines
Or maybe just too truthful: What Catherine the Great can teach CEOs.
They’ve already done to the shareholders and workers what she did to her horse*.
FWIW, Jay Winik, the author of this book, also does not have a good handle on what Catherine the Great was as a ruler. Look up Potemkin villiages.
*Yes, I know that the story is false. She died of a stroke while sitting on the chamber pot.
Pirate Bay Files Criminal Complaint Against Media Companies
The leaked emails from MediaDefender, the Frank Nitti to the RIAA and MPAA’s Capone, have revealed a systematic program of hacking and computer vandalism, and Pirate Bay has filed criminal complaints against Swedish subsidiaries of music and movie studios.
For all their talk of law and order, the media distributors have demonstrated a fairly clear “the law for thee and not for me” attitude.
Whiskey Foxtrot Tango: Bush Calls Obama Intellectually Lazy?
No really. An anonymous senior Bush administration official has called Barack Obama “intellectually lazy”.
The author of the article is right wing hack Bill Sammon, but still, the idea that someone working for George W. Bush would call anyone intellectually lazy is un f$%#ing believable.
George W. Bush has Terri Schiavo beat in the intellectual laziness department.
Blackwater Caught on Video Making
Well, it looks like the Iraqi government has a tape of Blackwater opening fire on civilians unprovoked.
Illegal Political Prosecutionsin Bush DoJ Started in 2001
This is an impeachable offense, pure and simple:
In the last two weeks, two sources, one of them inside of the Justice Department, have told me that a scheme was hatched in the upper echelons of the Bush Administration shortly after it took office in 2001 or early in 2002. The project identified John Edwards and Hillary Clinton as likely Democratic challengers to President Bush, and identified prominent trial lawyers around the United States as the likely financial vehicle for Edward’s rise. It directed that their campaign finance records be fly-specked, and that offenses not be treated as administrative matters but rather as serious criminal offenses.
…
The deliberate use of the state security apparatus to target opponents and their supporters is illegal, and was the sort of circumstance that was specifically envisioned by the founding fathers as a reason for impeachment now.
All Hat and No Cattle, and Afraid of Horses
Well, it appears that Texas’ most prominent entry into the phony cowboy sweepstakes, George W. Bush is afraid of horses.
One wonders if there is anything in his life that is authentic.
More Belgian Breakup Issues
Basically, this is about nationalist and ethnic tensions between the Flemish (Dutch speaking) and Wallooon (Francophone) seem to be increasing, and currently the winners of the most recent elections on June 10 have been unable to form a government.
It will be interesting to see how the EU will handle this if these disputes in Belgium end up with a dissolution of the nation, particularly with regards to Brussels, which is nominally multi-ethnic and bi-lingual, but is more of a French speaking island in Dutch speaking Flanders.
As an aside, this sort of increased ethnic division and governance problems are a direct result of proportional representation, which encourages people to self identify along narrow sectarian lines.
Fujimori is Going Down
This dictatorial murderous rat bastard will see justice, because the Chilean supreme court has unanimously supported his extradition to Peru.
One hopes that more world leaders are held to account for their misdeeds, including our own.
Burma’s angry monks ‘excommunicate’ junta by refusing donations – Independent Online Edition > Asia
I have to say that refusing alms as a protest is rather beyond my cultural experience, but it appears that this is a rather powerful protest in the context of Burmese Buddhism. This is both perplexing and interesting.
On the other hand, this statement from the monks is quite clear to my Western eyes, “The violent, mean, cruel, ruthless, pitiless kings – the great thieves who live by stealing from the national treasury – have killed a monk at Pakokku and also arrested reverend clergymen by trussing them up with rope. They beat and tortured, verbally abused and threatened them.“
One hopes that the junta is overthrown sooner rather than later.
Just Got Verizon™ Fios
A lot of confirmation and moving to a new ISP, which is a bit of a pain.
On the other hand, we’ve got PPV and a few hundred more channels (BBC America looks interesting) and about 20x the bandwidth for the same price as cable and internet, so it’s a net plus.
Lots of fiddling about to be done still though.
Yom Kippur
The Jewish day of atonement. Unless medically contraindicated, you are to fast* fast, and to meditate on where you have failed to measure up this year†, and how you might be better next year.
The fast went quite well for me. My feet bothered me more than my stomach.
Just before the fast, we ate a meal of home made chicken pot pie‡ which was rather nice.
Natalie, our 10 year old daughter actually fasted until about 2:30 in the afternoon, which was quite impressive.
We got together with some neighbors for a break the fast which was a lot of fun too/
*This means no food OR water for about 25½ hours. Judaism is not a religion for wimps.
†Were I to post the list here, it would overload your browser.
‡You do not want to start a day without water with something spicy.
Yom Kippur Starts This Evening
It’s a 25 hour fast, no food or water, starting a bit after 6:30…Needless to say, I will be off line.
Here is some cat art to muse on.
All your base are belong to us.