Wednesday, January 28, 2009

President's Pavlovian Response

Let's see if he learns...

First we have federal bank bailout money going to support Republican PACs in an effort to oppose employee ability to gather together and form unions (the EFCA).

Bernie Marcus, the charismatic co-founder of Home Depot, led the call along with Rick Berman, an aggressive EFCA opponent and founder of the Center for Union Facts. Over the course of an hour, the two framed the legislation as an existential threat to American capitalism, or worse.

"This is the demise of a civilization," said Marcus. "This is how a civilization disappears. I am sitting here as an elder statesman and I'm watching this happen and I don't believe it."

Hey Bernie - I'll show you some capitalism... I'll never purchase another damned thing from your store. Dickhead.

Then there's the story of the jackass Fuld (you remember him... the guy who got into an argument over whether he made 300m or 450m in compensation running Lehman into the ground) who, in an apparent effort to safeguard assets, sold his home to his wife for $100. Between the accelerated 3 billion in giveaways to Merrill execs and the story of Citigroup and their $50m executive corporate jet piled high with rich corinthian leather... these guys just dont get it.

Or, to be more accurate, they dont care. They are not embarrassed. They are not chastened. They are going to keep doing whatever they want with intent because, to them, it's all about them. I know a girl they should marry.

And to top it off - we have Obama... who spent days sitting, working, trying to make a bailout bill that would be bipartisan. And what did all that pleading and compromise get him?
But Obama's personal salesmanship effort failed to secure a single Republican supporter for the spending plan, which passed on a 244 to 188 vote. Just a day after the president spent more than an hour behind closed doors at the Capitol seeking their support, all 177 House Republicans opposed the measure, arguing that it would spend hundreds of billions of dollars on initiatives that would do little to stimulate the economy.

Ok Mr President. LEARN THE LESSON. When these guys say 'dont do that' - do it. Nationalize the banks - not later - NOW. Raise taxes on the wealthy - not later - NOW. Nationalize healthcare - not later - NOW. None of these entities are going to compromise with you. These greedy SOBs are the cancer that is killing this nation - and you do not deal with this in small measures.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Murder

Certainly 2nd degree
People need to pay for this... people who tried to cover it up need to pay... regulators that didnt come forward need to pay...

how much you want to bet the only people who pay are the defendants - to their lawyers...

American justice - a total crock of shit.

The War on Basketball

This story is just too perfect. A Christian school in Dallas (red flag) plays girls basketball against a school for learning disabled and special needs kids (big red flag)... and the result is - well - to be expected.

So the school, citing the rather 'unchristian' 100-0 score, and the fact that the team was shooting 3's well into the second half - demanded that the coach apologize for running up the score. The coach refused and was fired - but check out the quote from the kids - "What we did that night is what we are on this team for: to play basketball and win. As for the media calling our actions "unchristian", that is very sad. For this team, and our coach are a living testimony." Yes. Exactly. That's exactly what I've come to expect from people like her. Good to see she's got an early start in self-righteous indignation - it will serve her well at Baylor.

Then there's the reaction. As per the poll on this news story - people dont feel the coach should be treated this way. Good to see Dallas is still full of people who feel grinding your opponents into the ground is good fun - almost makes me look forward to the way the rest of the world should treat Jesusland post economic collapse.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Monday...

You know... some mondays start off surreal... then there are these. Oh well - perhaps all my good luck today is headed off to china wishing my friends a happy new year... i wouldnt mind that.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Banking Bailouts

Let's take a page out of the Abu Dhabi playbook with any further capital infusions... any money we put into the banks gets us, the taxpayers, stock at a set price. Any time between now and, say, a year from now - that the banks need further capital, all money we previously gave them converts to stock at whatever the new lower stock price is retroactively. Our ownership increases as they fail without any additional cash outlays on our part.

Genius negotiations by the Middle East on this one.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Pride

THAT is a president

Monday, January 19, 2009

Surprised

No blanket pardon... either he's been told he doesn't need to issue them or W's awfully cocky. I suppose the question asked starting tomorrow - in 1970's dinosaur rock metaphor style - is will it be 'meet the new boss - same as the old boss' or 'the men who hold high places must be the ones to start, to mold a new reality closer to the heart'. For today - I'm going to believe... and side with the Canadians. We'll all see soon enough ;)

Following Up

Because you know that yesterday's story was one that could only get better...

Doctor accused of harboring terrorists in home where his daughters are killed on live tv...

When this is where dialog goes - there's really no solution. Well, not without distributing 10 million of these to everyone involved. Until we stand up to everyone and say 'cut it out' - we get nowhere.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Plus Ce Change

We give Israel $15b a year so they can buy American weapons so they can do this.

Feelin good about your government yet? Watch - in 2 days - it'll be a new government. How much do you want to bet they do the same thing.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Good Riddance

W gave a 'mission accomplished' speech last night... wasting 15 minutes of everyone's time saying goodbye. W - just pack and go... you're supposed to disappear into the night like the billions of taxpayer money going to BofA (quick, before Obama takes office, get the last out of the till)... but for all that i will forever have vitriolic memories of this horrible evil man, Juan Cole does it justice.

For example:
"There are weasels among the pundits who say that Bush has been vindicated, insofar as Iraq has regained better security than it had in 2006. This is like saying that the Norwegian brown rat was vindicated when the Black Death ran its course, having killed a third of Europe before it subsided."

So, Mr President, as a rebuttal to your pathetic post-traumatic cheerleading - i offer up 15 minutes of reading (for you literate folk).

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

NPR Story

Yesterday on NPR I heard a story about a contest...

In six words, give him guidance.
Offer ideas for his inaugural address.
Six memorable words for January 20th.

In six words, a President can say a lot: "To bind up the nation’s wounds" (Abraham Lincoln, 1865) "Pay any price, bear any burden" (John F. Kennedy, 1961)

So give your speech writing a try.

Alas, the contest was over by the time I heard... my suggestions:

I'm president? Scarlett Johansson? - call me
Cheney! Who's the man now dog?!
Doctor King? Malcolm X? Mission Accomplished

I don't think i'd have won.

Signs of the Times

The Love of Money... Nortel No More - considering how much of dallas commercial real estate was leased by these guys, i dont imagine that's going to go over well

A New Revelation... Obama to emerge from the belly of the Beast next week... *cough*

An Eye for an Eye... following up on my irony story... i understand the sentiment - but this somehow seems a bit much.

Being my Brother's Keeper - or not. Close the libraries to kids? sure - why not... after all there wasn't much outrage after the announcement that 'baby clothes/toys/cribs/things' cannot be resold on ebay/craigslist unless tested for lead. Nanny state wins again! Seriously - i want to market an alchemical spray that will turn the minuscule amounts of lead in paint in toys to gold. Call it 'Newton's Wonder Spray' after the greatest alchemical genius of all time. As Colbert would say, no one likes lead - but everyone likes gold!

The Bauerization of America

Let's talk about torture.

i know i know... these are monday conversations... but today is special - because yesterday "The top Bush administration official in charge of deciding whether to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to trial has concluded that the U.S. military tortured a Saudi national who allegedly planned to participate in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, interrogating him with techniques that included sustained isolation, sleep deprivation, nudity and prolonged exposure to cold, leaving him in a 'life-threatening condition.'"

Ok. Now first off... this guy was a very very very bad person. He would have been on the planes if he could've been. There's very little question that this is 'one of the bad guys' - so let's not argue that. The question is - how do we choose to treat the bad guys? He isnt 'convicted' - he hasn't been tried - but he's guilty in that he certainly materially participated in bad things - and he'd do it again if we let him loose. No 'out on bail living in his multi-million dollar penthouse in manhattan' for him (he's not wealthy enough - let's not mention that 9/11 had a direct cost of $27.2b and Madoff did nearly twice as much damage).

So we know he's a bad guy... and maybe he knows things about other bad people. Maybe he knows things about other plans. What would Jack Bauer do? There's the problem. See - breaking out the feathers, thumbscrews, goats, and Cardinal Biggle's soft cushions doesnt actually get you truth. Ask John McCain. Professional interrogators will tell you this - just as our propaganda ministers will tell you that stories like this go a long way to seriously damaging our ability to gain cooperation from those abroad.

W said we do not torture yet his own "convening authority for military commissions" has admitted as much. WE HAVE LAWS - people MUST be tried over this. Obama cannot just ignore the high crimes of the Bush administration. We cannot have a government that pursues perjury charges against baseball players but not against those guilty of imposing stalin-esque ideological purity tests upon the department civil rights enforcement at the department of justice. Yes the wounds are ugly - but they are not resolved by saying 'it's different now' and slapping a bandaid on it. Criminals MUST be punished - or there is NO DISINCENTIVE FOR THEM DOING IT AGAIN. We are not ready for 'the healing process' - we have yet to cut out the cancer that has infected this government and this nation.

Now all that said... this is a BAD person. He doesn't need to be out there killing people - but there is a proper process for putting this guy in a small cell for the rest of his life - just as there is a process for putting those responsible for torturing him in similar cells. We need to follow it.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

The More You Know

It's good to see who's running our government.

Apparently we arent even allowed to coordinate peace when it comes to these guys.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Happy Monday

Sometimes we struggle with the concept of irony...
fat people complaining about fat people - meh...
but then there are stories which bring it home.

Just... wrong.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Tiltshift

I've played with HDR photography in photoshop - but honestly I've spent so much time playing in channels that it's only a rare HRD photo that makes me go 'wow' (usually something industrial for some reason). I'd played with tiltshifting as well - but this site has a very nice simple interface that does all the work for you (and does a great job with the color enhancement).

For example - here's a shot I took in Gibraltar several years ago.

hmmmm

i know another team that beat oklahoma by 10 this year....

btw - fox news coverage? unbelievable crap
"if you are fortunate enough to spend 5 min, or 20 min, with Tim Tebow - you're life is better for it" - yeah... sure... only if there's a tire iron involved

hmmm

is it wrong that when i read stories like this
i think of this

hard question

Why isnt this guy in a cell with this guy?

When you know people who've been given 18 year sentences for stealing meat out of a refrigerator - you'd think stealing $50b might count for a little jail time.

Anytime people tell you that the American justice system is something to be proud of - something we should be thankful is looking out for us - something positive in our collective lives... i gotta ask 'then why dont people like that dickhead go to jail instead of being "under house arrest and 24-hour surveillance at his luxury Manhattan apartment"'.

Someone needs to be telling Bernie 'watch your cornhole buddy' - and his wife?! hah! she's an accessory if nothing else. The very least they should do to her is give her a cardboard box and a sharpie and send her into the subway.

Then again - the "police" in this country aren't much more than uniformed thugs these days.

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Just Watch



at 1:00...
this...
where do i find one of those...

if the camera hadn't been rolling...

to be expected

I've been to 2 score countries in my travels - and there are only a few that are on my list of places I absolutely wont go. South Africa is at the top of that list.

There's a good reason - and at some point international football is going to really truly regret putting the game in such an absolute shithole country. If you go - make sure you take the bulletproofed limos from the airport, wear kevlar, and stay at hotels with very large armed guard contingents.

Monday, January 05, 2009

Happy Monday Redux



I'd make this joke again - but this whole thing just isnt remarkably funny. Honestly - this will breed another generation of hate... as you sow so shall you reap.

It's Monday

Happy Monday

You know... if there weren't enough reasons to avoid Hooters to begin with, this one is priceless. Too bad there's not an Akiba Hooters - because she'd be a hit. Did the manager really think that this would stand up? How dumb do you have to be to manage a Hooters? Where's the common sense? Ok - yes - it's a sexually oriented business - but i dont think you're allowed to fire someone for being an assault victim in any business. If things that happen to a person outside of work count towards their work-capacity, then aren't you saying all injuries outside are still workplace related? Shouldn't their insurance be involved? If a hooters girl gets pregnant - and she's not "styled as if you're going out on a big date on a Saturday night, as if you're preparing for a photo shoot" - does that mean you should be fired?

There are days I wonder about this country... then i realize that it isnt just us.

Sunday, January 04, 2009

hmmmmmm

With 4 minutes to play and Minnesota driving and down by 9 things weren't looking good for them... but the line was Minn +3...

Something had to be done

Did the long snapper hike a ball into Jackson's feet on purpose?

Long snappers always pull shit like this at the end of important games where the score would make a difference vs the line... i've seen it a LOT... guys who're normally rock solid - in this case a former Pro-bowl center - who just suddenly do something so out of character. Until the WaPo runs a story looking into the widescale impact online sportsbook has had on professional sports - and showing how crooked it has become - their tip of the iceberg garbage on poker cheating will always be just that.

Friday, January 02, 2009

New Years Eve Crawl


When you ask the world to text your new years eve messages to appear on the crawl - this is what you get when the /b/tards get involved