Year: 2007

Finally, an Endorsement From Me

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Mark Pera for Congress (Il-03).

The Illinois 3rd district is very solidly Democratic (+10% dem), and the incumbent, Dan Lipinski is one of the worst Bush Dogs out there. He’s pro war, favors criminalizing abortion, and supported federal intervention in the case of Terri Schiavo.

As an aside, this is a “safe” endorsement for me, because even if my jinx* holds true, it’s still a vote for Speaker Pelosi.

Besides, Lipinski is a Democrat that we can simply do without.

*Yes, I know that superstitions are silly, and I frequently belittle people for them, but this, and the Hope Diamond† are where my rationality deserts me.
‡I wouldn’t take that cursed diamond if you paid me.

Bob Herbert Gets is: Republicans are Racist Scum

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Read his article, The Ugly Side of the G.O.P. – New York Times.

Here is an excerpt:

…

Dr. Carolyn Goodman, a woman I was privileged to call a friend, died last month at the age of 91. She was the mother of Andrew Goodman, one of the three young civil rights activists shot to death by rabid racists near Philadelphia, Miss., in 1964.

Dr. Goodman, one of the most decent people I have ever known, carried the ache of that loss with her every day of her life.

In one of the vilest moves in modern presidential politics, Ronald Reagan, the ultimate hero of this latter-day Republican Party, went out of his way to kick off his general election campaign in 1980 in that very same Philadelphia, Miss. He was not there to send the message that he stood solidly for the values of Andrew Goodman. He was there to assure the bigots that he was with them.

“I believe in states’ rights,” said Mr. Reagan. The crowd roared.

In 1981, during the first year of Mr. Reagan’s presidency, the late Lee Atwater gave an interview to a political science professor at Case Western Reserve University, explaining the evolution of the Southern strategy:

“You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘Nigger, nigger, nigger,’ ” said Atwater. “By 1968, you can’t say ‘nigger’ — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things, and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.”

…

Patrick Leahy Cuts Admiral Mike McConnell a New One

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The Chairman of the Judiciary Committee lit into the Director of National Intelligence before his opening statement.

And well he should, McConnell is suggesting that oversight is aiding terrorists.

...Leahy pointed to a line in McConnell’s prepared statement suggesting that “some” do not appreciate the threat posed by al-Qaeda, and, visibly angry, warned him against accusing “any Senator on this panel” of playing fast and loose with national security.

And he called on McConnell to end his “irresponsible” repeated comments that debating changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act will mean that “some Americans are going to die.”

Apple Threatens iPhone Users

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

Pirate Bay Files Criminal Complaint Against Media Companies

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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.

Illegal Political Prosecutionsin Bush DoJ Started in 2001

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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.

More Belgian Breakup Issues

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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.