'Best hacker' faces years in US jail

Hacker faces jail time. Like any other crime, it seems they will always catch you. It's not a matter of if, but when.

Read the story here.

Rants -- July 30, 2008

Welcome to the July 30, 2008 edition of Rants.



Barbara Diamond presents AMERICAN SCOFFLAW: Get Real posted at AMERICAN SCOFFLAW. 

 

Sammy Benoit presents YID With LID: Whoopi Goldberg is Too Stupid to Have the Right To Vote posted at YID With LID. 



Michael Bass presents Obama the Messiah with Disciples (pic) posted at Debt Prison, saying, "Well the discussion inspired me to arrange the picture below of the Last Supper starring Obama and his entourage of unpaid propagandists." 



adso.of.melk1@gmail.com presents Some People are Idiots. posted at Lorem Ipsum, saying, "Michael Savage is an idiot, but his First Amendment rights were not violated." 



Mike Gogulski presents Damn your culture posted at nostate.com. 



Eclectic Bird presents What Is Up With Politics Today? » Blog Archive » The Average Person is too Stupid to Vote posted at What Is Up With Politics Today?. 



Doug Ragan presents My Presidential Campaign Health Care posted at I'm A Pundit Too, saying, "Our health care system has some series issues, and is in process of being completely socialized by nanny state loving Democrats. If this election goes as history tells us it will, then the Democrats will own the Congress and the White House. When the Republicans owned this, they tried to pass some common sense legislation, much of which managed to get shot down by procedures that the Democrats used to outmaneuver the Republicans. The dems didn’t step on this legislation because they thought it was a bad idea. They stepped on it because they knew it would help the system and this would prevent them from hitting their goals. Of course, the Republicans could have used a bit more leadership to get more legislation passed, but they weren’t very good at their jobs, and now some of them are working at FoxNews." 



Alberto O. Pareja-Lecaros presents Don't Be Ignorant posted at Youth Politics, saying, "A blog to bring out the youth voter's voice and bring my own thoughts about politics of today." 



Archvillain presents Carry On posted at A Dark and Sinister Force for Good, saying, "Rights are always balanced by responsibilities." 



Jeffrey Stingerstein presents Six Degrees of Global Warming posted at Disillusioned Words. 



Yoo presents Tourist murdered by North Korea posted at Stochastic Scribbles. 



Remie presents McCain Lies Yet Again posted at Hotfix America, saying, "John McCain caught in another distortion of the truth. How low will he go?"



That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Rants using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.



Technorati tags: Rants, blog carnival.

WTF Is It With People Throwing Lit Cigarettes Out of Their Cars?

Why do people think it's okay to thow lighted cigarettes out of their cars? What possesses a person to do such a thing?



First, it's littering. Do you throw out hamburger wrappers, drink cups, and plastic bags? You do? You need to pay a fine, you freakin' litterbug!



Maybe somebody needs to pick that crap up and rub it in your face!



Second, since a ton of fires have been started this way, I'd say that anybody throwing out a burning cigarette, cigar, pipe, or anything else on fire ought to be charged with attempted arson.



Then go burn in hell, why don't you, if you think arson is so cool.



I've written about this before, in a post entitled, "Today's RANT: SMOKERS."



And don't tell me it's your right, or "every other smoker does it." It's NOT and they don't. My mom has been smoking since a teenager (yeah, she's lucky and stupid) and I have NEVER seen her litter. In fact, when she stamps out a cigarette, she picks it up and puts it in her pocket until she finds a suitable container to put it in.



WTF is wrong with you guys?

If I Were a Motor: My Favorite Car Engines

This is the first post in a series I am calling "If I Were a Motor..." I'm not sure how many posts will be included because there are a ton of motors I wouldn't mind being. Most are motors that arose from the "muscle car era" that started back in the 60s (Preview: Chevy 454 "Rat" and 350 "Mouse," Ford small blocks, 5 liters, and the Boss series, don't forget Mopar 340 and the venerable "Hemi") but some are modern-day motors that power the Corvette, Ford GT, Ferrari (of course!) and Lambos.



First up is my all-time favorite, the one I grew up with. I grew up in a "Ford family."



Wait! Come back!! :)





That being the case, I was surrounded by small block Fords and chatter about the 427 FE and SOHC, 429 BOSS, and 351 Windsors and Clevelands. My first car was a 1983 Ford Mustang GT that I once got up to 130, which was pretty fast way back when.



Needless to say, I worked a lot on that car. It had a "5.0 Liter" V8 (also known as a 302) and it loved to rev to 6000 RPM. Ford's small block V8, which had started out as a 260 cubic inch "little" motor, powering things like the Falcon and first-ever Pony car, the mid-60s Mustang (based in the Falcon, by the way), not to mention the very first Cobra, grew into a 289 (our Ford Fairlane had one of those. Man, it was fast), then a 302, and finally a 351 Winsdor.



The 351 Cleveland was a cross between the 351W and a Boss 302 (basically, a 351W with Boss 302 heads, with some beefing up and modification to the engine block).



In any event, the reason I love the small block Ford is that they're so easy to modify. You want a part to make it go faster? Only time and money will stop you. Parts are cheap, relatively speaking, but there are so many hot-rodding parts that you'll go broke if you buy them all.



Want a few extra horsepower? Replace the intake manifold. Want a little more pep? Swap out the stock carburetor for something a little more powerful, like a Holley 4 barrel or an Edelbrock (where did the Predator go?). Want 15 horsepower? Remove the stock exhaust manifolds and replace them with a set of headers.



So easy to work on, too. The distributor is right up front, everything is within easy reach, and parts are available at your local NAPA and Kragen dealers, along with a TON of aftermarket shops online.



Most of this is due to the overwhelming popularity of the Ford Mustang, dating all the way back to the 60s, but really taking hold with my generation's fascination with the "Fox-based" (aka Fairmont) Mustang III that started in 1979 but really became popular in the mid- to late 80s.



They're "short stroke" runners that love the higher RPM range, especially if you have modified heads (the exhaust ports have always been on the small side). They make a wonderful sound, too.



What a fine piece of American (really Canada, as in Windsor, Canada) ingenuity.



On par, or in competiton, with the venerable Ford small block is the Chevy and Dodge (aka, Mopar) small blocks. I'll probably talk about those next. Be sure to come back for the next installment of this series. Sure to piss off "the other guys," I'll pick another motor for the next installment. Maybe with more pictures!

Wal-Mart: Festering Evil or Spreading Love?

Here's a video mapping of Wal-Mart store openings in the continental US from the 60s til 2007.



Note that there isn't much west of the Mississippi, like in Montana, the Dakotas, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah, save for the West Coast.



It must be all about population density and proclivity to buy.



Wal-Martians (is that what they call themselves) are nothing if not smart. And E-V-I-L.

With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies?

Drunk buddies set passed-out friend on fire. His crotch, no less.

Audio Equipment Ideas for Auto and After Market Manufacturers

Technology has come a long way since I bought my first aftermarket "head unit" from Pioneer back in 1984. I went through quite a few tape decks during my years with a souped up Mustang: Pioneer (fetish for quality imposed its early demise), then Concord, then Clarion's high-end Audia. Got the amps (ADS), the hi-fi speakers, did it all myself.





I once got a ticket for disturbing the peace on a hot summer night.  



Good times.



Nowadays, with digitized music, why do I care about CD changers, iPod connections and the like? Why can't I just connect wirelessly to a music server in the sky and fetch my songs that I bought with my own money?



The "music industry" (really just a bunch of pimps), that's why. But I digress.



Here's my vision for the future of car audio (and video, for that matter, though I don't see the appeal of video because I'm always the driver!!!).



Two methods of music storage. Keep your CDs, DVDs, iTunes, and other music at home. Either carry it all around in the form of a disk drive (USB, hard disk, doesn't really matter, as long as it's small, portable, and bulletproof) or access it wirelessly through the ether.



Head units will still have tuners and amps. They'd all have voice recognition, though, since I'd want to say, "Play Van Halen's You Really Got Me" (the song that got me pulled over nearly 25 years ago) and, like magic, it would play.



I could carry my music-filled disk around with me (maybe on a key chain) and plug it in wherever: My car, my SUV, my boat, or my freakin' airplane. Hey, I could even plug it into my friend's home stereo. What a concept!



Or, better yet, I could share my music (with authentication) with my car, truck, boat, plane, or friend over the Internet.



In short, everything would be web-ready and wireless. With voice recognition. This technology would be smart, too. It would remember where I left off, would keep track of what my most -- and least -- played songs, albums, and lists are, and it would tell me when my favorites have been updated, included in a soundtrack or compilation (I might like the other songs there, too), or when one of my favorite artists were in town.



It would give me advance notice of ticket prices and places, too. Maybe even discounts for frequent listening.



By the way, the home audio industry has done some of this, but not all. The ideal world would present me with zero barriers to take and play my music anywhere.



The "music industry" has so much potential but absolutely no imagination. It's amazing to me that the industry has creators of the content who are so innovative and creative, and the rulers of the universe are so brain-dead, incompetent, and closed-minded.



It's a shame, really. Enterprising originators of music (also known as singers and writers) could take some of these suggestions and run with them, but the infrastructure and industry must take an active, empowering role in all of this.



This stuff would be standards-based (something Sony and Phillips know about) and needs wide industry backing, funding, and support.



I'd love for somebody, like Sony, Amazon, or Apple, to take the lead. But they won't because they're all so damned complacent.

Barack Obama and the Middle East

It is perplexing to me that the same people who go on and on about "Barack Hussein Obama" (implying he's some relation to Sadaam Hussein and/or that he's a Muslim) hold the idea that he knows nothing about the Middle East.



I was listening to "conservative" talk radio this morning (I think it was Brian "the Sussman" Sussman) on AM 560 where they were conjecturing about the number of speeches that Obama had given regarding the Middle East, implying that he knew little to nothing about the region.







These are the same guys who use Barack's full name when they talk about him.



So what are they doing here?



On the one hand, they're calling him a Muslim, hoping you make the leap that he follows Islam (while at the same time telling you he listens to a creepy minister at a Christian church), which makes him evil because all Islamists are radical. So the thought goes.



On the other hand, they're saying he knows nothing about the Middle East.



So tell me this: If Muslims are concentrated in the Middle East, and Barack Obama is a Muslim, then wouldn't he know just a little more that we do about the region? I mean, if you're Irish, you probably have a little more knowledge of Ireland than my Mexican friend, Pedro, no?



I just don't get it.



It's like they're testing spaghetti: See what sticks.

Illegal Immigrants and Crime

There is a lot of hyperbole floating around the ether about illegal immigrants (or "illegals" as those opposed to them are wont to say) committing crime and that felons who happen to be here in the US illegally ought to be deported pronto.

First of all, the statistics don't support the contention that illegal immigrants commit any more crimes -- proportunately -- than people born and raised here.

Department of Homeland Security Facts
Study finds immigrants commit less California crime

Second, if your contention is that illegal immigrants ought not to be here in the first place, then why not deport them all?

Third, and this is the really big one, in my opinion, if we do embark on the quest to deport illegal immigrants who commit crimes (the severity of which is ripe for conjecture, as in: Where does one draw the line? Murder? Rape? Burglary? Assault? Dime store theft of candy?), what assurances do we get from the foreign entity to which we do the deporting that the recently deported will a) go to jail and serve the time to which they were sentenced? and b) that they won't just come back here and commit more crime?

After all, some of the same folks who contend that people here illegally commit a lot of crimes are the same folks who believe that the criminal justice system does not work. And if it doesn't work, then that simply means that once out, the convicted criminal just goes about committing more crime.

No.

I say if you commit a crime here, you do the time here. I know, it's a burden on our penal system to serve non-citizens. But isn't it a burden on our society to let criminals out of our grasp and out of our control? I mean, it's best to keep your friends close and your enemies closer, as the saying goes, right?

Rants -- July 20, 2008

Welcome to the July 20, 2008 edition of Rants.



Ben Dinsmore presents Is It Finally Time to Drill in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)? posted at Trees Full of Money, saying, "I am 100% in favor of drilling in ANWR, but unlike the mainstream media I am not naïve to think that it will completely solve our energy problems."



I agree that we need to take lots of different kinds of steps to ease our foreign dependence on oil. I am just not enough of an expert to say that drilling in Alaska, or anywhere else, will make more than a few dollars' difference. At $15, a few dollars means something. But at $150? Who cares?



Recoil presents Do We Really Want a President Who Lets the Press Interview his 7 and 10 Year Old Daughters?



I'd have to agree with the notion of having my kids interviewed by the press at such early ages.

 

Andrew Heath presents Tarot Reading for George W. Bush posted at Andy.



I hadn't thought of doing a Tarot reading...damn, could have saved a lot of time.



NotYourDaddy presents Ready or Not, A Change is Going to Come posted at Government is not your Daddy., saying, "Iran has made clear their intentions and their capabilities, and they’re sitting there smirking at us while we debate all the ways and reasons we can’t retaliate, and enumerate the innumerable paths to failure."



Indeed, a change is coming. Whether it's a positive or a negative remains to be seen.



Archvillain presents Stuff and Nonsense posted at A Dark and Sinister Force for Good.



The car-buying public IS stupid. Always have been always will be.



Deborah Armstrong presents WE'RE RAISING A BUNCH OF WIMPS!



Man, ain't it the truth?



Chris presents Inside Every Martial Artist is a Dangerous Criminal posted at Martial Development, saying, "Martial artist: are you an inherent threat to decency, morality, and public safety? No?

We, your elected government, say yes..."



It would seem that a lot of us could fall victim to the ridiculous laws passed since 2001.



Madeleine Begun Kane presents A Humorist's Lament (Covering The New Yorker Cover Brouhaha In Verse) - Updated posted at Mad Kane's Political Madness.



Jennifer Hill presents Illegal Immigrants, Republican View posted at Jennifer Hill.



A good argument against illegals.



The BoBo presents Are liberals waking up to the Obamessiah? posted at The BoBo Files, saying, "The political correctness surrounding Obama has many fearing speaking up against him. Here's a review of a post by a liberal black columnist who thinks people should think twice before voting for Obama in November."



It does seem that right about now Barack Obama is beyond reproach. If elected, however, he'll find out what criticism is. 



That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Rants using our carnival submission form.



Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.



Technorati tags: rants, blog carnival

John McCain: Profile in Courage? Older than God?

Thoughts On Torture:
Doesn't support stuff he couldn't handle

Saturday Night Live Appearance:
Solid

Where He'd Be If Not Running For President:
Dead

Awards:
Distinguished Flying Cross (Vietnam War); Silver Star (World War II); Bronze Star (Crimean War)

Inspiring Example:
Co-sponsored a campaign finance act with Democrat Russ Feingold, the aim of which is to leave every campaigner as broke as McCain and Feingold

More here -- John McCain | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Top 20 Killer Songs

Interesting idea from the folks at Spinner. Johnny Cash not only makes the list twice (who could guess?), he tops it with Delia's Gone. The Boss makes the cut, too. There's some rap, some rock, some country, and some punk. Pretty good list.

Bush Administration Gave $43 Million to Taliban: We're So NICE

Man, we give money to everybody. It's like money grows out of printing presses!



May 2001, the US government gave $43 million to the Taliban. I guess it wasn't enough.



Next time, we should give them our entire cache. Then, perhaps, they'll be grateful. Pricks.

Rolling Stone: 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time

Rolling Stone is famous for putting out lists, and this one is sure to stir some comments and emotions. It is the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time," and it contains some whoppers sure to piss off some folks.



For example, Brown Sugar by the Rolling Stones comes in at #5. WTF?



Johnny B. Goode tops the list. I can go with that. But Born to Run at #14? I mean, I love the song and I love the Boss, but Born is not a great guitar song. It may be in the Top 100, but #14? C'mon!



AC/DC's Back in Black is #29? Huh? How about #1??? That's got to be one of the greatest opening riffs of any song EVER! Damn.



Anyway, enjoy. I encourage comments. Be nice, but tell it like it is. Check out the new sidebar widget from Amazon called MP3 Clips -- it has a few of the songs that made the list. If you'd like me to add a song, tell me.



Thanks for playin'.

John McCain Is a Liar.

When asked what is the first thing he thinks of when he thinks of the city of Pittsburgh, John McCain thinks of the Steelers. Why? Because he listed the Steelers defensive line when asked who his Vietnam soldier companions were while he was being tortured.



Except that he didn't.



One of his books telling the story of his torture says he listed the Green Bay Packers offensive unit as his mates.



So did the story dramatizing the book.



So which is it?



Seems like "Straight Talk" is bullshit. What do you think?



Is McCain just crazy? Forgetful? Senile? Or is he a liar? Which of these characteristics do you value in a president?

Rants -- July 14, 2008

Welcome to the July 14, 2008 edition of Rants. This is a really good set.



Rant of the Week

It was really tough to pick just one. These are all deserved WINNERS! But the following is my favorite:



Ian Bowman presents Default VI: Employer posted at If It Feels Good Do It, saying, "I'm really glad you were into my last rant about sticker displaying hybrid owners. This rant is simply about people who work at Google. It's a specialized rant, but the people that get it seem to love it."



I especially like the "default messages" to Google men and women. Those are spot-on perfect.



Remie presents The Energy Crisis Solution | Hotfix America posted at Hotfix America, saying, "A post on how to fix our energy crisis and why it won't happen."



Right, it will never happen. We're too stupid to look a week into the future. Spend a little here to save A LOT there? Naw, never gonna happen. So sad. :(



Holly Ord presents We Know McCain=Bush, So What’s the Problem? posted at Menstrual Poetry



Yep. McCain is just dumber and older. I hope he picks a great, young, and smart running mate. We'll see him (or her) sooner rather than later. I have every confidence John McCain will die or be committed to an institution before his presidency runs out (if he's elected, of course).





NotYourDaddy presents Mommeeeee ? It's Not Fair! posted at Government is not your Daddy., saying, "'He got more than me. Mommy, make him give me some of his.' Does that sound like childish whining? As childish as it may sound, it’s the basis of the most devastatingly destructive politico-economic folly of the modern age. When you take that same concept and translate it into adult language, it comes out as the redistribution of wealth."



I agree. What's mine is mine and what's yours is ours. Or something like that. Isn't that the American way?



NotYourDaddy presents What is Conservatism? posted at Government is not your Daddy., saying, "Conservatism is about believing in the principles on which this country was founded. Those principles are grounded, not in the unlimited powers of government to regulate every aspect of our lives, but in our inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."



True dat.



Recoil presents Is Will Smith Black? Gee, I didn't Notice! posted at Double Barreled Opinions.



Will Smith is black? OMG! :)



Blooks LLC presents Top 5 Stephen T. Colbert Contributions to American Politics | Carnival of PoliticsCarnival of Politics.



I love the Colbert Report! The writers there are as talented as the Simpson's writers, only more topical and they have to be on their game 4 times a week, as opposed to what, 13 times a year? Scratch that, they're WAY MORE TALENTED than the Simpson's writers.





Allen in Fort Worth presents The Colombia Free Trade Agreement posted at The Whited Sepulchre, saying, "here's a rant about the astonishing number of people who must be bribed before a "Free" trade agreement can become law."



This is astonishing. It still amazes me the corruption that goes on behind closed doors; I always feel so silly when I read these stories and get upset about it. MONEY makes the world go 'round!





I especially like this quote about the Republican's penchant for feeding at the public trough: "They've made the Democrats look like coupon-clippers who wear their socks twice to save on detergent."





DWSUWF presents Mr. Sullivan - May I show you your petard? posted at Divided We Stand United We Fall, saying, "The fact is Mr. Sullivan, that when you argue for the inevitability of an Obama victory, you argue for a massive concentration of single party Democratic power and even fewer fetters on a unitary executive than were on President George W. Bush. That is unlike the soul of any conservative I have ever known."



Yeah, Sullivan kind of bugs me nowadays. Back before Bush, I liked Andrew; he was a breath of fresh air. Now he's just a little bitch. I mean, I agree with him, for the most part, on his distaste for the Republican party in general and President Bush in particular, but he just whines about it incessantly. Pick up some new topics. He's a smart guy.



Nick presents All Wrong? posted at Nemesis.



I think the same thing all the time:

My trips to the mountains make me think that the people avoiding city life may have it right and all of the rest of us are wrong. Leaving behind all of the priorities of traditional society, even for a brief period, is incredibly liberating.

Truer words have never been spoken. One thing to keep in mind, if you ever fly: Take a look down and you'll see most of our land is unspoiled by urban life. There really is very little population density; it just seems that way. Like "Can't see the forest for the trees."



Raymond presents My Not-So-Stimulating Economic Stimulus Payment Has Finally Arrived posted at Money Blue Book.



The government we pay for, wasting more of our money. When will it stop? They send notices telling me the check is on its way? My gosh, what a waste!





Not to mention the fact that the checks were so damned small as to not make a dent in the current economic malaise ("It's NOT a RECESSION!" say the naysayers.)



That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Rants using our carnival submission form.



Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.



Technorati tags: rants, blog carnival.

Cheap, Crappy Beer for the World: Budweiser Sold to InBev

Atlas Shrugged. World let's out collective sigh. Cheap, crappy beer is now not just an American right, it's for the whole world.



Budweiser will now be manufactured (not brewed, never has been), distributed, and sold by InBev. Now, we can blame the Dutch for bad beer.



Thanks for taking this shoddy excuse for beer off our American soil. I'm sure you'll take our jobs, too.

Metal-Eating Man Goes to Hospital

Doctors pulled screws, a knife, and some bling from 50 Cent out of a man's stomach, saying, "Zarate was mentally ill but it was not clear why he ate the metal."

Um, because he is mentally ill.

Jesse Jackson Effectively Cut His Own Nuts Off in Public

Talk about unintended consequences! It's about time this guy got some negative press about the shit he spews. I'm so tired of Jesse Jackson ("the Reverend," huh!) talking smack and not being able to back it up with America for at least 20 years now.




"I want to cut his nuts off." Jackson said this, referring to Barack Obama's testicles, because he supposedly was pissed off about how Obama "talks down to black people" (Jackson's words, not mine or anybody else's -- it was all there on video).

Well, well, well, Jesse. Those are not presidential words. They are not words coming from a man of faith.

They are words coming from a man (used loosely) who is filled with hate. Jesse Jackson is simply not a man. And now it's confirmed: He has no balls; he cut them off in public. Way to go. The Rainbow Coalition means so much more to me now!

Read the full story here about Jesse Jackson and his wanting to cut off Barack Obama's nuts.

Gun Control: For or Against It?

Driving the other day, I was behind a guy (I assume, it was a GIANT 4x4 with hunting bumper stickers on it) who had a bumper sticker about gun control:

Gun control is using two hands

Gun control is a strange concept to me, not that we should let just anyone own a gun, but it's not the guns that kill people, it's the bullets. And the only way bullets get into, and out of, guns is by people loading and unloading them.

 

So, either control people through legislation (if you use a gun in a crime, get X years added onto your sentence), or control the disposition of bullets. It used to be, at least in California, that whenever you purchased handgun ammunition, you had to show ID and your information was recorded. I'm sure that law went down the tubes due to some dumbass concerned about "privacy" (meanwhile all of our privacy has gone out the freakin' window. Google FISA. Or Tim Ferriss.) 

 

Here's a blog post by Freakonomics author, Steven D. Levitt. In a nutshell, there is no evidence that banning guns, as has been done in San Francisco, Chicago, and Washington DC (recently turned back by the US Supreme Court), has any effectiveness whatsoever.

It's always great to be able to point to facts and evidence to arrive at a conclusion. The conclusion here is that banning guns has no effect on crime.

Rants -- July 6 Independence Weekend Edition

Welcome to the July 6 edition of Rants. There weren't a lot of submissions and BlogCarnival let me down again. At least they email me the posts that you all submitted; otherwise, I'd be in a real bind :)



Terry Dean presents Internet Scams posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry Dean.

I see this one all the time. The scams all look the same, too. Making money online requires, in most cases, a LOT of hard work, networking, some luck, and a good product. That last one is the kicker.



Adso of Melk presents Let's Get Rid of All the Teachers posted at Lorem Ipsum.

Been there, done that. Heard that. Said that. There is such a negative vibe against teachers right now; it's not their fault. It's the administration. And the state. Not to mention the federal government with their stupid "No Child Left Behind" crap.



Archvillain presents On the Origin of the Feces posted at A Dark and Sinister Force for Good.

Some of the best Rants EVER!!!! Thanks for contributing your sarcasm, anger, and frustration and putting it all into beautifully-worded essays.



Jeffrey Stingerstein presents Should We Bomb Iran or Bring a Listening Ear? posted at Disillusioned Words.

I don't know what's going to come of this, but it's probably not good. It seems lots of people running the world have this keen desire to meet their maker -- sooner rather than later.



That's it for this week. Stay tuned for next week's Rants, where -- IF YOU ALL DON'T SUBMIT MORE -- I will go nuts on my own Rants. Beware.



Be afraid. Be very afraid. :)



Submit your blog article to the next edition of Rants using our carnival submission form.



Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.



Happy Independence Day!!!

Introducing Computer Monkeys and its Blog

I want to make a very special announcement: I've launched (or is it "re-launched?") two new sites, the corporate site for my computer consulting business, Computer Monkeys (established in 1996), and the Official Computer Monkeys Blog.



If you don't mind, give the sites a look. Tell me what you think. I welcome all criticisms and suggestions.



If you like what you see, please bookmark the sites, link to them, give them some link love! Feel free to twit, stumble, digg, add to Facebook and MySpace. I'd really appreciate it.



Thanks, and Happy Fourth of July!



By the way, this is no doubt a shameless plug. I will do my best to refrain from mentioning these sites again.