Monday, January 29, 2007

VP Cheney crazy like a fox?

Dick Cheney's gone off the deep end...from a recent Carl Hiaasen article --

There are several possible explanations for the vice president's bizarre performance:

  • He's crazy as a loon.
  • He's a compulsive liar.
  • He's gotten his prescriptions mixed up with Rush Limbaugh's.

MiamiHerald.com | 01/28/2007 | In Veep's world, we're safer now than before Iraq
powered by performancing firefox

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Genarlow Wilson sentenced 10 years

UPDATE: This is one of the most heart-wrenching stories I've ever read. No doubt, many thousands of people have done exactly what he's done. With one exception:

Genarlow Wilson is spending 10 years in a federal penitentiary.

When he was 17, he received oral sex from a consenting 15 year-old. The act was caught on tape. This is the kicker: If he'd had sexual intercourse with her, he would have been guilty of a misdemeanor. But since he received oral sex from her, he had committed a felony.

Georgia wins the award for the most backassward state in the Union for this one. The Georgia legislature even passed a new law after Wilson received his 10 year sentence. Oral sex is no longer a felony. But they didn't make the law retroactive, even though the law was written specifically out of Wilson's conviction.

Wilson was offered a deal: Admit to the crime and get less than 10 years. He took his chances with a jury trial. The jury had to convict him; under the law, he had committed a felony. This is clearly a case where everybody "did his job." Therein lies the rub. Now he's a sex offender with some of the best potential years of his life lost -- FOREVER.

Seriously, this is the scariest thing I've heard. And I think it's because he's black. A white school teacher was convicted of having sex with a student. She received 90 days.

The county District Attorney's office has the ability to set aside the conviction and set Wilson free, but they won't do it. They seem to be suffering from an overinflated ego. They want him to admit he did wrong, that he molested a little girl (she was 15 and admitted to initiating the act).

I wish some high profile people, besides Mark Cuban, would look into this. Perhaps George Bush could do one noble, moral, honest, and right thing: Pardon the kid.

ESPN.com - E-Ticket: Outrageous Injustice

Technorati Tags: , , , , , ,

powered by performancing firefox

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Vice President Dick Cheney: Impeachable?

Now, the story below comes from a very left-leaning blog, but its report is really an encapsulation of an MSNBC story by David Schuster. We'll see if Congress wants to play ball.



Part of me wants Cheney and Bush to go. But then what do we have? Pelosi?! Not my choice either. Part of me says just let 'em ride it out, then prosecute them when they're out of office. The other part of me says, nail 'em. They did illegal, immoral, and reprehensible things. Stick it to them.



And, really, how much worse would Pelosi be than Bush/Cheney? She could always select Wesley Clark to be her Secretary of State/Defense. Then we'd be okay.



Think Progress » BREAKING: Libby Destroyed Evidence Prior To Testifying, Cheney ‘Deeply Involved’



powered by performancing firefox

Thursday, January 18, 2007

9 year old steals car, boards plane, flies from Seattle to Texas through Phoenix

Incredible. I don't know where to start.

Airline security?
Motivation of a 9-year-old?
Carelessness of his mother?
Great cops?
How bad is Tacoma, Washington that the boy's tried to escape numerous times?
How great is Texas that he'd go through all this trouble to get there?
How great a game is Sony Playstation that a 9-year-old learned to drive a car?



The Seattle Times: Local News: 9-year-old runaway flies from Seattle to San Antonio via Phoenix

powered by performancing firefox

Friday, January 12, 2007

Boy Scouts playing with fire set forest ablaze

Aren't the Boy Scouts supposed to be always prepared?

Government: Boy Scouts set Utah wildfire - Yahoo! News

powered by performancing firefox

Income inequality matters

The Naked Economist is one of my favorite columnists on yahoo! Finance. He brings a practical approach to otherwise theoretical matters (or is it the other way around?). In this article, he argues that income inequality (the difference between rich and poor) makes a difference to the country at large. Citing Brazil, where income inequality is very high (as measured by the Gini coefficient), there is a lot of crime (murder rate is 5x that of NYC) and slower growth than there would be if there was less inequality, as concluded in an economic study. The reason being that people spend resources that could otherwise be used to produce things on protecting things. This is a great point.

He then goes on to say, or at least suggest, that the US is headed down this path. One need to look no farther than your nearest "gated community" to see this in action. When people feel the need to put up bars, not just on their windows and doors, but on their neighborhoods, well, "Houston, we have a problem."

Give it a read. It may make you change your mind about income and wealth disparity. Or it may just make you want to move to that gated community.

Why Income Inequality Matters: The Naked Economist - Yahoo! Finance

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

powered by performancing firefox

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Bush pushes for additional 20,000 troops in Iraq

Well, there, he did it. President Bush told us last night that he'll be sending another 20,000+ troops to Iraq, presumably to "win" (whatever that means). I guess he can order anything he wants (he is Commander in Chief, you know, and the "war president"). However, it will be interesting to see how Congress, of which the Democrats now have a slight majority, reacts.

According to the Boston Herald, Ted Kennedy is "pushing legislation that would prevent Bush from committing more troops without approval from Congress, a proposal some say amounts to an unconstitutional infringement on the president’s power as commander in chief."

While nobody thinks this proposal will fly, it is apparent, and has been for a while, that most Democrats and many Republicans are against such a buildup.

Now, it has been suggested that Congress could refute Bush's plan by not funding the escalation. However, this presents a terrible "worst-case scenario" for Democrats and Republicans who run counter to Bush's direction: If they vote NOT to fund the war build-up, they'll undoubtedly be portrayed as unpatriotic come election time. If they vote for funding the buildup, then they'll run counter to the majority of Americans who simply want us to "cut and run."

This is clearly a case where representative government would do the right thing. However, we don't really have such a government. Rather, we have a government of elected officials who "know better than us."

They're smarter than us so they'll do the right thing. Right?

Sure, their "sheeple" mentality is what got us into this war.

powered by performancing firefox

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

I'd pay to see Geraldo Rivera fight Keith Olbermann

Geraldo has called out Keith Olbermann, to which Olbermann replied, "Geraldo, you should not give me a hard time. I can still remember when you were a big deal ... back when I was a kid."

Geraldo Rivera hasn't been the same since he got smacked in the sniffer with a chair on his daytime TV talk show quite a few years ago. The episode was about the KKK and other white supremest groups, where one of the manly white men called a black man Uncle Tom. Then fists flew, chairs flew, and Geraldo stood there with a broken nose.

But I digress. Rivera seems to be a wannabe Ernest Hemingway, but he's not nearly as manly (there, I said it. "Manly." Twice in the same post). He'd better watch out, though: He may have to back up his manly words with his fists. Remember, Geraldo's not very good at backing up his boisterous claims (remember Al Capone's vault?!).

Orlando Sentinel - Geraldo wants to whoop up on Olbermann by
Technorati Tags: , , ,
powered by performancing firefox

President Bush can read your postal mail

Why? Because he said so. He performed a "signing statement," a brilliant misuse of presidential authority (in fact, Bush has performed far more of these than any other president), where he authorizes himself to be able to open people's postal mail.

Now, if you weren't convinced that "King George" is a megalomaniac, perhaps this story will get you to bend that way?

The Raw Story | Senator asks Bush to explain signing statement that gives President authority to open mail without warrant

Technorati Tags: , , ,
powered by performancing firefox

Friday, January 05, 2007

Great summary piece on Saddam Hussein's rise and fall

Very interesting timeline on Saddam's rise to power and his subsequent fall.



Discovery Times :: Timeline of Saddam's Reign



powered by performancing firefox

How to go to M.I.T. for free - Yahoo! News

Great article on how to get a college education without the college cost...

How to go to M.I.T. for free - Yahoo! News

powered by performancing firefox

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

God speaks to Pat Robertson...

but then he just makes shit up to incite people. Like this:
Pat Robertson predicts 'mass killing' - Yahoo! News

I want to know how he knows it's God speaking to him and not the devil or some other miscreant in his head.

powered by performancing firefox

The *REAL* War Games -- and we lost

Way back in 2002, the US held war games with fictional (read: Iraq) countries. We lost. So we did the prudent thing: We went to *REAL* war with factual countries (one of which was Iraq).

Nothing like doing a simulation and then discarding the findings to battle with a real opponent.

The Bush administration looks more incompetent (read: Stupid) every day, in every way.

TomDispatch - Tomgram: Schwartz and Engelhardt, War without End

powered by performancing firefox

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

CNN and Fox News: Smear minions for Republicans?

I didn't see it, but I saw it coming...I just thought it would be Fox, not CNN, who did it. Yes, they did a story on "Where is Osama bin Laden" but instead of stating it that way, they said, "Where is Obama?"

What a bunch of idiots, losers, or jerks. You decide.

At least they apologized. Hopefully, Wolf Blitzer called Barack like he said he would.

Crooks and Liars » CNN apologizes to Barack Obama

Technorati Tags: , ,

powered by performancing firefox

Trailer owners offered millions for beach front Florida property

Why can't this happen to me? I paid a LOT for my house in California and nobody's EVER gonna offer me that kind of money!

Trailer park residents offered buyouts - Yahoo! News

Technorati Tags: ,

powered by performancing firefox

Televangelist sued for false healing

This is a great one. I don't know who's dumber, the family, the "healed" man, or the preacherwoman who "healed" him...but they're all from the same family, so I'd say inbreeding plays a part.

Independent Online Edition Americas

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

powered by performancing firefox