Posts from — March 2005

Someone saw him take the plates off and leave the car, so they called the police to investigate.

The police decided that this was typical “terrorist car-bomb behavior” and called the bomb squad.

The bomb squad decided that since they couldn’t find a bomb to disarm, they had better blow up the car in a controlled fashion, which they then proceeded to do.

The student returned with his straightened plates as they were sweeping up the remains of his car.

Well, “the police blew up my homework” is certainly more original than “the dog ate it”.

March 11^th, 2004, Madrid

Nuestros profundos condolencias en su perdida.

With 191 dead and hundreds injured the Spanish did not lash out without reason, but conducted an investigation which resulted in the capture of almost all of those responsible.

Had the United States been this reasoned in its response, perhaps Bali and Madrid could have been avoided with the capture of all of Osama bin Laden’s thugs in Afghanistan.

For more information on the Madrid bombing see this Wikipedia article.

[^TM Kevin Drum]

Ovinnik

What is that?

[Edit: In Russian mythology an ovinnik is a barn sprite that looks like a black cat with green eyes. The photo is the result of taking the picture through a glass window with a flash.]

Friday Ark

“The Super Puke, The King, is coming to Pittsburgh next week to give some money to some faith-based group; he is trying to buy his way out of Hell.”

He refers to most elected officials as “pukes” because that’s what the drill instructors at Parris Island called recruits before they earned the right to be called Marines. He earned the right and was called a Marine. For the record the only people he doesn’t think are “pukes” are Russ Feingold and Barbara Boxer because they show some guts, which is an attribute highly prized by ex-Marines and most veterans.

This time they are trying to change rules on removing feeding tubes. CNN covers it in this story on the Schiavo case. The changes will prevent the removal of feeding tubes unless someone explicitly states in their living will that such action be taken.

They say that food and water are a basic human right, but they make no attempt to fund this requirement. Terri Schiavo, if feeding is continued, will probably die as result of complications from bedsores and be in pain, if she can sense pain, because no physician will prescribe analgesics in this case, for fear of being accused of euthanasia.

I realized that Shih Tzus are little better that mobile dust mops, but it is pure speciesism to deny them their day in court, or dismiss their credit worthiness.

, Not The Solution

It is a lengthy post but covers a large topic and explains why the current non-system in the US costs so much more than any other country, but produces less.

One of the main points is that a truly efficient health care system is not profitable, and, therefore, the private sector has no incentive to develop such a system.

Read the article and understand why a single payer system is the best of the current options for controlling spiraling health care costs and providing access.

The Beeb has an article on a promising Type-1 diabetes treatment. Doctors are harvesting the insulin producing cells, islets, from the pancreases of donor cadavers and injecting them into the pancreases of diabetic subjects.

All the subjects have a reduction of insulin need, and one subject seems to have been cured completely. There is a shortage of donors, so research needs to be done on the possibility of production with stem cells, or using cells from living donors.

This is certainly hopeful news for hundreds of thousands of Type-1 diabetics throughout the world who are subject to multiple, often fatal, side effects from the disease, as well as the burden of buying expensive medication and testing equipment.

1. PZ is a biologist who would like to see greater invertebrate representation at The Friday Ark.

He stuck it out and moved back to his home town after retiring to settle in to what he thought was going to be a comfortable life gardening and playing with his grandkids.

Then a bankruptcy judge decided that the airline wasn’t required to honor its commitment to the retirees. Now he is living on Social Security and Medicare. Fortunately he was debt-free when this happened so he isn’t in trouble as long as he doesn’t get sick. If he has medical problems everything he has worked for could go to cover his medical costs.

If the Republicans have their way, the same bankruptcy court that took away his pension and medical insurance to preserve a corporation from bad management decisions will strip him of a lifetime of assets earned by following the rules. If the Republicans change the Social Security system, those wonderful pirate/private/personal accounts will be subject to forfeiture, assuming that they have any value.

The pattern is quite clear that all of the risks of life are being transferred to people from corporations. Corporations can break laws, pollute, and waste money, but they are protected from the consequences by a series of laws that have been passed or amended in the last four years.

Why can’t or won’t the US reciprocate?

Where was the US response to the Madrid bombing? Spain was an ally and we did almost nothing to recognize its pain.

Where was the US response to the tsunami? Days later there were mumbled responses and inadequate aid offers.

Laura Rosen at War and Piece wonders where the US apology is for the death of an senior Italian agent and wounding of a recently released hostage at an American checkpoint in Iraq.

Tom Watson wonders why there never seems to be any public mourning in the US. He looks at what Italy is doing, and is amazed that the closest the US has come to this is the death of Ronald Reagan, which realistically was not universal, not like JFK or FDR.

A woman lost her job for taking pictures of “transfer tubes” and Nightline was accused of partisan politics for reading the names and showing picture of the American service members who had died in the service of their country.

What is wrong with the people in charge? Are they so disconnected from humanity that they no longer understand the minimum standards of society? How long would it take for someone to whip up a statement for the President to read from the White House and broadcast? No one is asking him to actually care about another human being, but the world expects such statements.

All such lapses do is confirm for the rest of the world that Americans are a bunch of callous, self-centered thugs, devoid of civility.

[Update: Well, John Bolton as ambassador to the UN ought to solidify our position as arrogant jerks.]

I would be more than happy to comply with any such regulation after I see the determined values for putting a sign in your yard, a sticker on your vehicle, wearing a t-shirt, wearing a hat, as well as posting a link.

People keep confusing the Internet with television and other broadcast media, and that’s not the way it works. A Web ad has good more in common to a roadside sign than a 15 second broadcast ad. Signs on major sites/streets with a lot of traffic, like dKos/Broadway, command higher prices than those on Why Now?/County Road 10, so, the average blogger is no different than the average homeowner who puts a sign in their front yard. Bloggers generally copy ads from campaign sites, just like homeowners pick up yard signs at campaign headquarters.

That leads us to another interesting point: yard signs cost campaigns money to print and they are counted as an expense, so how does the campaign “expense” a blog ad?

What exactly is the difference between an individual who voluntarily says nice things about a candidate on the ‘Net, and the individual who voluntarily walks a neighborhood and says nice things about a candidate?

Having been part of state and federal bureaucracies I would follow any requirements to the letter, doing my part to bury the FEC under an avalanche of paper from millions of bloggers. I mean, they do realize that there are millions who will be sending individual reports about their contributions of a few seconds at random intervals?

Folks, there is absolutely nothing that screws up a bureaucracy faster or more thoroughly than some smart ass following the regulations. We have computers, so paperwork is a mouse click away. It isn’t a denial-of-service attack when the government requires people to submit forms.

Of course, anyone who is receiving money from a candidate should announce that fact openly, because even if it isn’t a legal requirement, it is a moral requirement. Even if what you’re doing is not related to blogging, your readers have a right to know.

[Edit: George wrote on this earlier at Old Fashioned Patriot]

Several of her lectures are on video, and even if you aren’t really a computer person, she is a great teacher. She probably has more “firsts” than anyone else in the field of computer science.

“You manage things, you lead people. We went overboard on management and forgot about leadership. It might help if we ran the MBAs out of Washington.”

One of the most useful tools for demonstrating speed was her 30 centimeter [approximately 1 foot] pieces of wire that she used to demonstrate computing speed. That’s how far light travels in a nanosecond.

It’s not bad enough that these people mess with your life, they expect you to pull your forelock and thank them.

[Edit: The nurses kicked Arnold’s butt in court.]

A Fish

Where are the cats?

[Edit: This is my Mother’s side pond. The goldfish just eat, but the gambusia minnows occasionally leap out of the pond and commit suicide.]