Things I Really Wish the World Got to See

The Kurt Cobain Christmas album

Wingnuttia - apparently, their America is not my America

See, in my America, we have freedom of religion and no official State religion

Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress, has announced that he will not take his oath of office on the Bible, but on the bible of Islam, the Koran.

He should not be allowed to do so — not because of any American hostility to the Koran, but because the act undermines American civilization.

Bigoted, much?

For that matter, why the hell does anyone have to swear on any book at all? The entire setup is ridiculous and unconstitutional from any rational (that is, non-Christianist, non-Scalia) point of view.

Just another day in right blogistan, of course, but this way of thinking is entirely antithetical to the supposed American ideals of freedom of and freedom from religion, not to mention freedom of expression, personal responsibility, and personal integrity.

Know what parkour is?

Now you do (or you can read about it, I guess).

The guy in the video is David Belle, I think. Either way, that’s one athletic mofo. If you start searching on YT, you might want to give yourself a few hours to explore.

OMFG. They made a video

Remember when I linked to the worst vanity cover song in the history of ever? Well, they made a video:

If you listen to the original, you’ll notice something… autotune is Katie Price/Jordan’s best friend. BEST friend. (actually, check that, they’ve removed the mp3. Tragedy!)

Well at least my ears aren’t bleeding any more. My eyes on the other hand… (that shower scene is HIGHlarious!)

The janitors win!

As an update to a previous post, the Houston janitors who were striking for better pay and benefits and who were attacked by the police… won!

City-wide union contract will more than double income for more than 5,300 janitors and families, latest victory in national fight for good jobs with health care

And that makes this a very good Thanksgiving for us all. Happy T-day, everyone!

Cameras

I can’t think of a better consumer guide to top notch cameras than Flickr’s new Camera Finder utility.

Looks like the Canon EOS Rebel XT is the hands-down winner. The others are the Nikon D50, Canon EOS 20D, Nikon D70, and the Canon Digital Rebel (non XT version).

Guess where I’m looking first when I get my digital SLR camera? Man, I want one of those bad boys.

Urgent

Because it’s been in my head all day

Robert Altman dead at 81

RIP, Bob. You made some great movies that I enjoyed immensely.

The author ejection seat

Following Henry’s following of Jim Henley’s following of Adrienne Aldredge’s meme:

What authors have you given up on for good? And why?

Now, we’ve got two people saying Dan Simmons so I can’t use him. Which is unfortunate, since he certainly deserves to be on the list, both because of the GWOT malarkey and his horrible second-novels in each series he’s done. So… here’s my list of authors that started off great. Our relationship was perfect and my love for them burned brighter than two suns … only to fizzle when they kept publishing past their expiration date. These authors are dead to me, our love a dry, barren, scorched earth of place where only the unlikeliest of seeds may take root henceforth:

Chuck Palahniuk. Invisible Monsters, Fight Club, and Survivor were fantastic. Choke was good. But Diary, Lullaby, and Haunted were all empty nothings that lacked the energy, vision, and genius of his earlier work. I was pretty sure I was done after Diary, but I’m certain I’m done after Haunted.

Neal Stephenson. There, I’ve said it. Quicksilver was such an awful book that it overwhelmed the truly awe-inspiring works of Snow Crash and Diamond Age. and I liked the Big U, Zodiac, and Cryptonomicron as well. Interface… not so much (it was a long way to go just to get a black woman as president). Visionary, meth-and-death-metal fueled genius… toppled under it’s own weight and affectation of writing three massive tomes longhand.

Orson Scott Card. Three of his works were fantastic - Ender’s Game, Seventh Son, and Red Prophet. Some were pretty good (like the first two in the Homecoming series), but every book after the second in each of his series was just awful. The returning to former glories with Ender’s Shadow and the like is just pathetic. The well is dry, Orson. That and the freaking incessant pounding of the Mormon mythology drums just gets tiresome.

On the bubble: Neil Gaiman, Greg Bear, George R. R. Martin, Jim Butcher, Stephen King
Definitely on the list, but too trite to mention: J.K. Rowling, Robert Jordan, Michael Moore, Anne Rice

Not that I was planning on traveling there or anything

but Nicaragua is now officially on the Grumpy boycott list

Hopes among women's groups in Nicaragua that President Enrique Bolaños would stop one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Latin America from taking effect have been dashed, as the president signed it into law late Friday.

Abortion has been illegal in Nicaragua for more than a century, and most women who decide to end unwanted pregnancies seek procedures at underground clinics. But the new law strikes out a clause that made it possible for a woman to obtain an abortion legally when three doctors certified that unless she did, her own life would be in danger.

For months, the proposed law has drawn fierce criticism from several local women's groups, the country's association of gynecologists, the United Nations, the World Health Organization and Human Rights Watch, among others.

"This is a throwback to the Middle Ages for women's rights," Juana Jiménez, the leader of the Women's Autonomous Movement in Nicaragua, said after the law was passed.

So much for OJ's big payday

Book, TV show cancelled

News Corp., the parent company of book publisher HarperCollins and the FOX network, has canceled publication of the O.J. Simpson book and television special “If I Did It.”

“I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project,” said Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. chairman. “We are sorry for any pain that this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson.”

In the book, the one-time football superstar tells how he would have killed his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman if, in fact, he had done it.

A dozen FOX affiliates had already said they would not air the two-part sweeps month special, planned for next week before the book’s publication.

One station manager who had said he wasn’t airing the special said he was concerned that whether or not Simpson was guilty, he’d still be profiting from murders.

It’s still not going to stop me from running my picture again, though.

More from the Obama files

Feh.

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, who is contemplating a run for the presidency, on Monday called for a “gradual and substantial” reduction of U.S. forces from Iraq that would begin in four to six months.

Decisive action is always 6 months away for these people. Less talking, more doing please. Until you’re coming with a solution and action rather than words, go away. Again.

Hot Fuzz

I just saw the teaser poster for Hot Fuzz:

The guy on the left? That’s Simon Pegg. You know, that hilarious guy from Spaced and Shaun of the Dead? The guy on the right? That’s Ed from Shaun of the Dead. Ed!

I’m psyched for Hot Fuzz just based on Pegg’s involvement, though I really think they need to get working on Day of the Ed.

Ingenuity

Bonus points for elbow grease, risk-taking, and inventiveness

Tipped off by three plastic pipes mysteriously skimming the ocean’s surface, authorities seized a homemade submarine packed with 3 tons of cocaine off Costa Rica’s Pacific coast.

Four men traveled inside the 50-foot wood and fiberglass craft, breathing through the pipes. The craft sailed along at about 7 mph, just six feet beneath the surface, Security Minister Fernando Berrocal said Sunday.

Pet Peeve o' the week

I have two DVD-specific rants. One, concerning the technology itself, where the designers have prohibited you from going directly to the menu and you can’t reauthor the DVD because of that egregious violation of our fair use rights known as the DMCA.

But today… today we’re going to talk about something else: DVDs for television series that do not place their chapter marks right after the opening credits. Yeah, I’m talking to you Stargate SG-1 and The Wire (and the early seasons of The Sopranos). After you’ve seen the credits once, do you really need to keep on seeing the menus the next 12-21 times you watch the series? And you can’t even find out that the chapter points are set at ass-random times until after it’s too late.

So here’s to you, underthinking DVD designers! Give us freakin’ appropriately-placed chapter points.

America, land of the ...

the… the… I dunno. I give up. It’s certainly not the land of the free.

In an unprecedented transparent attempt to severely limit the right to peaceful protest and freedom of speech of low-wage Houston janitors and their supporters, a Harris County District Attorney has set an extraordinarily high bond of $888,888 cash for each of the 44 peaceful protestors arrested last night. Houston janitors and their supporters, many of them janitors from other cities, were participating in an act of non-violent civil disobedience, protesting in the intersection of Travis at Capitol when they were arrested in downtown Houston Thursday night. They were challenging Houston’s real estate industry to settle the janitors’ strike and agree on a contract that provides the 5,300 janitors in Houston with higher wages and affordable health insurance.

The combined $39.1 million bond for the workers and their supporters is far and above the normal amount of bail set for people accused of even violent crimes in Harris County. While each of the non-violent protestors is being held on $888,888 bail …

For a woman charged with beating her granddaughter to death with a
sledgehammer, bail was set at $100,000;

For a woman accused of disconnecting her quadriplegic mother’s breathing
machine, bail was set at $30,000;

For a man charged with murder for stabbing another man to death in a bar
brawl, bail was set at $30,000;

For janitors and protesters charged with Class B misdemeanors for past
non-violent protests, standard bail has been set at $500 each.

More than 5,300 Houston janitors are paid $20 a day with no health insurance, among the lowest wages and benefits of any workers in America.

America… where we love all the people all the time unless they carry signs and interfere with our consumerist days or the “free” market or organize collectively or…

Insecure Passports

Why mixing poor security design with a new technology the bureaucrats don’t understand and combining them with highly important, personally-identifying, required travel documents is a really, really bad combination

Six months ago, with the help of a rather scary computer expert, I deconstructed the life of an airline passenger simply by using information garnered from a boarding-pass stub he had thrown into a dustbin on the Heathrow Express. By using his British Airways frequent-flyer number and buying a ticket in his name on the airline’s website, we were able to access his personal data, passport number, date of birth and nationality. Based on this information, using publicly available databases, we found out where he lived, his profession, all his academic qualifications and even how much his house was worth.

It would have been only a short hop to stealing his identity, committing fraud in his name and generally ruining his life.

Great news then, we thought, that the UK had just begun to issue new, ultra-secure passports, incorporating tiny microchips to store the holder’s details and a digital description of their physical features (known in the jargon as biometrics). These, the argument went, would make identity theft much more difficult and pave the way for the government’s proposed ID cards in 2008 or 2009.

Today, some three million such passports have been issued, and they don’t look so secure. I am sitting with my scary computer man and we have just sucked out all the supposedly secure data and biometric information from three new passports and displayed it all on a laptop computer.

I have, of course, mentioned how the US is switching to RFID passports in the near future. Also, how to make a RFID jammer… for what good it will do you.

There is no God

As an update to a previous post, it is now conclusively proven that there is no God.

Republicans Friday chose Rep. John Boehner as minority leader, succeeding Speaker Dennis Hastert in the top GOP leadership post for the Democratic-controlled House that convenes in January.

Laura Ingraham’s God has forsaken her. What will Laura do now?

I'll take that bet

If Pence is not the next House minority leader, then there is no God.

After hosting Pence on her conservative talk show Tuesday, Laura Ingraham remarked: “If there is a God in heaven, he will be the next House minority leader.”

Following Ingraham’s logic,1 if Pence is not the next House minority leader then there is no God in heaven. When it doesn’t happen, who are you going to worship then?

Care to double down, Laura?

1. Yes, yes. If A then B does not necessarily imply that not A equals not B. Given Ingraham’s construction it seems pretty clear to me that she is establishing that A (God) implies B (Pence as minority leader). In order for this to be true, the contrapositive (not B then not A) has to apply as well, so not B (Pence not minority leader) has to be not A (no God) for the construction to hold.

Cum Cum Disease

That’s ‘iku iku byo’ if you’re speaking Japanese.

Growing numbers of Japanese women are afflicted with an illness that gives them orgasms virtually 24 hours a day. And with suggestions that it could be deadly, the women hardly know whether they’re coming or going, according to Shukan Post (11/24).

“If a guy simply taps me on the shoulder, I just swoon. Even when I go to the toilet, my body reacts. I’m a little bit scared of myself,” one woman sufferer tells Shukan Post.

Another adds: “When I got on the train one day, I could feel blood gushing toward a certain part of my body and it felt so good I almost let out a moan. It was sheer murder when everybody got pushed into the carriage.”

Yet another woman has her say.

“Even the vibration of my mobile phone is enough to set me off,” she says. “My friend said there’s something called Iku Iku byo (Cum Cum Disease). I guess I’ve got that.”

I love this new entirely fictional “disease.” Note that this isn’t one of those wacky Japanese made up alien rape vine things either. No, no, no! This is American

PSAS has been described as an affliction that brings about orgasm through the slightest of jolts regardless of whether they’re aroused, or even thinking about sex. What’s more, orgasms experienced by PSAS sufferers are not just momentary phenomena, instead affecting women over anywhere from a few days to a week, with one reported case seeing 300 orgasms in a single day.

Awareness in Japan of PSAS — which was first documented by Dr. Sandra Leiblum in the United States five years ago — is growing, especially in the blogsphere, where it is being called Iku Iku byo.

Hear that ladies? That tingling sensation you get in your genitals when I look at you is not just a wonderful, everyday occurrence… it’s also a disease. And terrible disease that you really need to explore more fully, preferrably in my living room.

Guess Who!

First two guesses don’t count.1.

Am I the only one who vomited in my mouth a little here?

1. Michael Jackson. Entering the auditorium for the 2006 World Music Awards.

Seriously. That’s Jacko.

Forget Berlin

Rummy being sued for war crimes in Germany, under their rather novel “universal jurisdiction” they granted themselves for war crimes investigations.

The November 14, 2006, criminal complaint is a request for the German Federal Prosecutor to open an investigation and, ultimately, a criminal prosecution that will look into the responsibility of high-ranking U.S. officials for authorizing war crimes in the context of the so-called "War on Terror." The complaint is brought on behalf of 12 torture victims – 11 Iraqi citizens who were held at Abu Ghraib prison and one Guantánamo detainee – and is being filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Republican Attorneys’ Association (RAV) and others, all represented by Berlin Attorney Wolfgang Kaleck.

Rummy’s not in any real danger of being snatched (and if he is in danger, you should be going for for Kissinger first, bitches), but I hope he wasn’t planning a summer trip along the Eder.

Doughy Pantload, late to the game as usual

Continuing an earlier thread, Goldberg didn’t get around to his “Conservatism didn’t fail the GOP, the GOP failed conservatism” post until 11/9. In response to his tardiness, I’m linking to his post 6 days later.

Of course in his inimitable idiot way, Goldberg contradicts his whole point within his article:

Of all these arguments, the only two you are likely to hear ad nauseam are: too much social conservatism and too much war.

Oops. If the GOP is too socially conservative and the GOP failed in the election and failure is defined as “not winning”, then… looks like conservatism did fail, now dinnit?

He starts to say something about how social conservatism brings as many votes as macacas blacks and labor combined … but it’s obviously only as many votes as blacks and labor combined -1.

Doughy’s got the sweetest gig in the world. A sugar momma momma/puppetmaster and… no, wait. That’s all he’s got. Well, good on ya with the lucky parent thing.

Shameless inhumanity

OJ Simpson edition. In an update to a previous post, OJ is now doing the talk show circuit to promote his “hypothetical” book. Hmm… this sounds… familiar… Oh yes! I remember!

You know, you have to admire the human species. Every time I think we’ve hit a new floor in taste, someone goes way, way below it.

Matsuzaka

Well, the BoSox are paying $51.1M to talk to the best free agent pitcher available this offseason. Is he worth the 80-90 million he’s going to cost? Quite possibly. When you add together that his translated stats are better than Clemens’ over the past 3 years and the increase in money from Japanese marketing and that he’s only 26 and can still improve… I could see the deal working out. It’s possible that he tanks or gets hurt, of course, but I think from a business standpoint, he’s at least a break even proposition (and that’s not even getting to the marginal monetary value of the wins that he brings to the table).

A Matsuzaka-Schilling-Beckett front three would be pretty impressive (if flyball heavy), especially for a team that has poor OF defense. We don’t know who the Sox are going to put in the corners, but let’s assume Manny and a slugger leaving mediocre+ Crisp in center. That’s… somewhat troublesome, but not overly so for such a K-heavy top three.

Anyway, who cares about that. Let’s see how he pitches!

Slider:

The infamous gyroball:

If you’re in a fantasy league next year, I recommend trash talking and comparing him to Irabu. Then picking him up on the cheap.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

Lieberman won’t rule out GOP caucusing

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut said yesterday that he will caucus with Senate Democrats in the new Congress, but he would not rule out switching to the Republican caucus if he starts to feel uncomfortable among Democrats.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

BritBrit - KFed Sex tape leaked

Here’s the preview:

Oil and the Elections

Not that I'm a conspiracy theorist or anything, but long before the election I was saying that if I was the Republicans, I'd call in every favor I needed to with OPEC countries, oil companies, refineries, and a sub rasa deal with Hugo Chavez in order to bring gas prices down by the time of the election.1 I would even release some of the strategic oil reserve if need be.

It turns out that the Strategic Oil Reserve wasn't needed, but the oil price drop sure did come in like a freight train. Here are crude oil prices for the past few months. Notice anything... interesting?



Beginning in August, oil prices took an unprecedented and ahistorical dive (non-recent election year ahistorical, that is). The world is at peak production of oil and there is ever increasing demand. Heading into the coldest months of the season, the price of unleaded gas dropped more than $0.70 per gallon on average. Even the loss of half of our crude refining capacity due to the spill and shutdown of a BP plant in Alaska did not make the price of gas go up in this country.

This was commented on at the time, including an actual study, showing not only an artificial drop, but a correlation in this ahistorical drop to US domestic election years (See the charts from 2006-2003, 2002-1999, 1998-1995. These look interesting but inconclusive to me, but I'll trust the judgment of people who have much more experience in this field than do I).

Hamilton analyzed the gap between pump prices and the spot price of crude oil in election years, compared to the non-election previous years. He found that in 2002, 2004 and now in 2006 there was a moderate to substantial shrinking of that gap, meaning less profit potential for the oil companies, in measurements taken the first week in October.
...
"This pattern of the last three election years is an indication that motorists who smell something fishy in the rollercoaster prices they've endured this year may be on to something," said FTCR President Jamie Court. "The rise to record high gasoline prices this spring unleashed a wave of justified criticism of bloated oil company profits. Now the price drop in the pre-election period, by a percentage well beyond reductions in the price of oil, smells just as bad."

Even the loss of half of the oil shipped by BP from Alaska after a pipeline accident did not put a dent in steadily rising gasoline production, which exerts downward pressure on retail prices.

Obviously, a drop in gas prices before November in even-numbered years but only for the last three election cycles makes no economic sense. But it makes a boatload of sense if you are an oil company with close ties to the ruling party of a significant economic country. A country that, should your friends go out of power, might decide to not only investigate you, but to tax your record windfall profits, and possibly implement those dreaded price controls.

There are other post-election examinations of the convenient nature of unexpected and illogical oil price drops and the US midterm elections too numerous to list. I do recommend the pre-election link above is a recommended read, with some great discussion and graphs. Including this one of unleaded prices over the past year:



My best guess is that the drop in oil prices was the October Surprise the GOP had lined up as their killer move. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for the country, their gambit did not work. This was probably for a few reasons: one, they couldn't claim credit for it, because that would give the whole corrupt game away. No credit means no votes, other than general feelgood inclinations twoards them. Two, the effect was too subtle for general good feelings in the populace toward our paternalistic GOP rulers. And, not least, three, that their other scandals, incompetence, and corruption were so overwhelmingly large that they could be giving gas away on the corners and people would still be wondering why Johnny only has one leg. Apparently they are as lacking in competence at October Surprises as kar Rove is at having a soul.

As further anecdotal evidence to the pile, I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been noticing gas prices inching back upwards of late. Here we go again.

I wonder if the gas companies are going to try and claim their unrealized profit from the artificial deflation of gas prices as political contributions and exempt it from their incomes on their taxes this year? Better yet, I wonder if anyone will file a shareholder lawsuit2 against the boards of directors of the oil companies for breach of fiduciary duty to the company?

1. OK, I wouldn't do the Chavez part. You just know he'd go blabbing his big fat mouth about the deal everywhere. No link because the discussions were offline. You'll have to ask Ms. Grumpy to verify.

2. AKA a "derivative suit."

What Liberal Media? pt. 529

A tale of two covers: Time ’s ‘94 postelection cover touted “G.O.P. Stampede,” ‘06 cover asserts “the center is the new place to be”.

Trust me, just go look. I don’t feel like pulling the images right now.

OK, one more BritBrit - KFed post

I thought I was done with one post, but nooooooo, KFed has to go and pull this awesomeness out.

Dumped husband Kevin Federline has been touting the four-hour tape for sale and has already been offered £26 MILLION.
…
They did nothing all day but have sex—and play the odd game of chess.

Yes, that certainly would be an odd game of chess, what with BritBrit trying to eat the pawns and KFed wondering where the filter wire goes on the queen and all. Apparently BritBrit is worried that it will destroy her comeback or something and thinks she’s still a Disney product. Honey, there is no comeback for you outside of this tape. So you had sex with your husband? Big deal. Look how far Paris has milked one boring narcissistic tape. You Your handler’s can totally manage that.

The Mengele Act

The passage of the Torture Act Military Commissions Act continues to be a shame on America’s history and a danger to our civil liberties daily. Take, for example, the case of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri.

In 2001, al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar, was in the United States legally, on a student visa. He was a computer science graduate student at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, where he had earned an undergraduate degree a decade earlier. In Peoria, he lived with his wife and five children.

In December, 2001 he was detained as a “material witness” to suspected acts of terrorism and ultimately charged with various terrorism-related offenses, mostly relating to false statements the FBI claimed he made as part of its 9/11 investigation. Al-Marri vehemently denied the charges, and after lengthy pre-trial proceedings, his trial on those charges was scheduled to begin on July 21, 2003.

But his trial never took place, because in June, 2003 — one month before the scheduled trial — President Bush declared him to be an “enemy combatant.” As a result, the Justice Department told the court it wanted to turn him over to the U.S. military, and thus asked the court to dismiss the criminal charges against him, and the court did so (the dismissal was “with prejudice,” meaning he can’t be tried ever again on those charges). Thus, right before his trial, the Bush administration simply removed Al-Marri from the jurisdiction of the judicial system — based solely on the unilateral order of the President — and thus prevented him from contesting the charges against him.

Instead, the administration immediately transferred al-Marri to a miltiary prison in South Carolina (where the administration brings its “enemy combatants” in order to ensure that the executive-power-friendly 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has jurisdiction over all such cases). Al-Marri was given the “Padilla Treatment” — kept in solitary confinement, denied all contact with the outside world, including even his own attorneys, not charged with any crimes, and given no opportunity to prove his innocence. Instead, the Bush administration simply asserted the right to detain him indefinitely without so much as charging him with anything.

Last month, Congress endorsed this behavior and expressly vested the President with the power of indefinite, unreviewable detentions when it enacted the so-called Military Commissions Act of 2006.

If this doesn’t shock you into action or revolt your sense of justice and what it means to be American, then nothing will. As Greenwald notes, the US Department of Justice is now officially claiming that immigrants seized on our shores can be held indefinitely, with no recourse to any element of our judicial system. No habeas corpus, no open trials, no advocates for their cause, no fair trials.

I’m proud to be an American.

I have no idea what this country I’m currently residing in should be called.

Domestic terrorism

Who are the American terrorists? Military tribunals aside, we know they’re not muslims or brown people, generally speaking (DC snipers and Seattle Jewish center assassin excepted). No, the anthrax-sending, bomb-detonating domestic terrorists are, by and large, conservative white males. Here’s the profile of Chad Conrad Castagana, self-posted as a freeper and Chrisitan Nationalist:

I am a lifelong Conservative Republican .

I have an Associates Degree in the Science of Electronics .

Ann Coulter is a Goddess and I worship Laura Ingraham and Michele Malkin .

English is the langauge of the United States of America- - our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution are written in the langauge that expresses our civilized freedoms .

Spanish is the language of Banana Republics, beyond that it belongs in a European country.

Here’s the CN part:

Liberals and Lefties everywhere in America’s institutions are trying to slowly but increasingly ban Christianity from America, from our site, from our discourse !
They have already succeded in banning any sign of Christianity from ourPublic Schools ! !

If THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST were released today for the first time, it would be slapped with an NC-17 rating !

If anyone ever says that the eliminationist language of the right, used by their media talking heads on down to the vermin on LGF, is of no consequence or no threat, then I suggest you point them to the ever growing list of blood-soaked domestic terrorists Orcinus is keeping.

Distracted

busy doing other things and doing happy dances. Hope you are too.

Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer in which malignant (cancerous) cells are found in the mesothelium, a protective sac that covers most of the body's internal organs. Unsurprisingly, given the nature of this blog, mesothelioma is almost always caused by exposure to asbestos. According to the government, 2,000 new cases are diagnosed in America each year though this conflicts with the mortality rate of 10,000 deaths per year due to the disease.

The symptoms, much like those of asbestosis, may not present themselves until 30-50 years after exposure. Symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma include weight loss and abdominal pain and swelling due to a buildup of fluid in the abdomen. Other symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma may include bowel obstruction, blood clotting abnormalities, anemia, and fever. If the cancer has spread beyond the mesothelium to other parts of the body, symptoms may include pain, trouble swallowing, or swelling of the neck or face. If you have these symptoms seek medical attention immediately.

Unfortunately, the survival rate of those diagnosed with this disease is not not high, nor is the expectancy of a long period (typically on the order of 8-12 months). As with most cancers, there are three treatment options: surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.

Legally, many people file claims for mesothelioma-related illnesses before presenting for the disease due to worries about the tolling of the statute of limitations. If you think you may have mesothelioma and want to consider your legal options, there are websites that are devoted to this topic and will link you to experts in the field who can give you a full presentation of your options.

Democra... touchdowwwwwwn!!!!

There are still 8 House races undecided. I’m glad to see that the one in Ohio is getting the proper, serious attention that the election deserves and our democracy demands.

In the Columbus, Ohio-area, elections officials are delaying the count of more than 9,000 provisional ballots by one day so it doesn’t disrupt the much-vaunted Michigan-Ohio State football game on Nov. 18.

Plus, football sucks. If baseball were still ongoing in November, then this might be acceptable.

Shameless

White House war pigs use props of the twin towers in a veteran’s day message to the troops:

After months of studied ambiguity, President Bush finally admitted that Iraq had "nothing" to do with the attack on the World Trade Center. The Defense Department, however, appears determined to perpetuate the myth.

Today, the administration released veterans day messages from troops in Iraq. These "taped messages from the U.S. Defense Department" featured a replica of the twin towers in the background.

Who exactly are they trying to fool? Whom do they think they are fooling? They might as well have hung a “Mission Accomplished” banner on the set as well.

It's another internet land rush!

Get yer early live.com email addresses now!

You have to create a new account, press “sign up”, then copy the location of this link and paste it in the address bar of the window where you loaded the page from live.com. Now youll have live.com and a list of other localized domains for you to choose from.

By copying “this link” above, they mean copying the code snippet there at the signup page and pressing enter. More domains besides hotmail.com will be added to the dropdown, including live.com (where MS is going) and there are lots of early names left. I got my name and Ms. Grumpy got a sweet 4-letter shorthand name.

Mmm… early adoption!

Slavery is Freedom.

War is Peace. Ignorance is Strength.

Continuing the ongoing thread LaMoron Barber weighs in with yet another “conservatism didn’t fail, the GOP did” editorial. She’s also carrying the bullshit meme about how conservatism actually won in this 2006 midterm election.

Republican politicians may have been ousted, but conservative policies prevailed, particularly the ban on so-called same sex marriage. Something similar happened during the 2004 presidential election. In response to a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling declaring the state's ban on homosexual "marriage" unconstitutional, all 11 states with measures protecting marriage passed those measures, including states that [former presidential candidate] Sen. John Kerry won.

Despite clearly supporting certain conservative ideals, voting Americans rejected the men behind the policies.

So tell me, LaMoron, conservatism is passing an increase in the minimum wage everywhere it was proposed?

Conservative ideals rejected the anti-choice, pro-women’s reproductive freedom bill in South Dakota?

Conservative ideals rejected anti-choice, pro-women’s reporductive freedom notification laws in Oregon and California?

Conservative ideals supported stem cell research in Missouri?

Conservative ideals ending the estate tax in Washington?

Conservative ideals rejected a ban on same-sex marriages in Arizona?

Conservative ideals defeated Kansas AG Phil “I seize women’s abortion records” Kline’s reelection bid?

I’m not even sure what conservatism means anymore. Is Heath Shuler considered a conservative for his economic values or a liberal for his socialist/populist labor opinions?

Was it conservatism that placed a woman from San Francisco at the head of one of our branches of the legislature?

No, of course not. What actually happened was an American populace that finally, finally, voted for candidates that actually reflect what they believe rather than support a tiny minority of theocratic authoritarians with a deep south power base and outlook. The trogolodytes are finally being put back in the dank, dark cave from whence they came. It’s also where they’re happiest, eating blind cave fish and developing mucus-skin coverings that bioluminesce in the presence of forbidden thoughts.

Originally posted at: http://grumpasaurus.com/2006/11/09/slavery-is-freedom/

New Adventures in Incest

Remember the Purity Ball and the Purity Princess Survivor kit? The Purity Balls where little girls and teenage girls pledge their bodies and/or chastity to their fathers until they are married?

Yeah, here’s the promo video:

Mmmm… feel the mysogyny and objectification. Women as chattel and daddy’s little sex objects… it’s not just for medieval breakfast anymore, it’s a money making evangelical hypocrisy based industry!

Originally posted at: http://grumpasaurus.com/2006/11/09/new-adventures-in-incest/

Wingnuttia Predictotron v2

Professional Bush fellator Fred Barnes edition

KARL ROVE SAID LAST YEAR that the question of realignment–whether Republicans have at last become the majority party–would be decided by the election of 2004. And it has. Even by the cautious reckoning of Rove, President Bush’s chief political adviser, Republicans now have both an operational majority in Washington (control of the White House, Senate, and the House of Representatives) and an ideological majority in the country (51 percent popular vote for a center-right president). They also control a majority of governorships, a plurality of state legislatures, and are at rough parity with Democrats in the number of state legislators. Rove says that under Bush a “rolling realignment” favoring Republicans continues, and he’s right. So Republican hegemony in America is now expected to last for years, maybe decades.

Originally posted at: http://grumpasaurus.com/2006/11/09/wingnuttia-predictotron-v2/

Wendy's song

This made my morning.

Genius!

Originally posted at: http://grumpasaurus.com/2006/11/09/wendys-song/

My unified BritBrit - KFed post

It appears the marriage to stand all time (no, not that one, we knew that one was fake [discussion offline so no linkee][fn1]), the love that burned brighter than a thousand shining points of light reflected in a full spittoon, is no longer.

During the election coverage on Tuesday, the number one news item - in fact, the only news item - running on the ticker was the divorce. It made me wish for an asteroid to hit the earth the broadcast booths of the media networks.

BritBrit told KFed via text message on his cell phone. That’s OK, that’s the same way he proposed to her.

KFed of the amazingly motile sperm seeks custody. Of course he is, that’s the only way he’s going to get any money. BritBrit should call his bluff if, you know, there weren’t little human beings involved.

Though I find it hard to believe, apparently actual human beings were involved in the writing, production, promotion, and listening to of the following:

I’m sharing it with you both to fuel your genocidal rage and because there are some things you just can’t unremember. This being one of them. And if I have to suffer, so should you.

One has to wonder if the brood mare would have dumped him if his record hadn’t been a bomb and he didn’t have to give away tickets to his shows just to pack the house to 1/3rd capacity. The people’s dislike of the uberweasel was just too big to ignore. Also, BritBrit’s uterus was screaming for a break since, apparently, prophylactics are simply out of the question (His Holiness of the Incredibly Motile Sperm has powers sufficient to destroy any containment device) and taking a pill every day is just too confusing what with having to remember what a day is and all.

Now, back to actual important news.

Call me, Reese. I know you’ve been holding yourself back from flinging yourself at me for years now. I admire your principle and your dedication to that previous relationship. But now that you’re free, you can throw off those shackles society has set upon us and we can be together at last my love.

Originally posted at: http://grumpasaurus.com/2006/11/09/my-unified-britbrit-kfed-post/

What is Best in Life?

To crush your enemies, drive them before you, and hear the lamentation of the righties

#5 mbpaul 11/7/2006 09:25PM PST

I quite. I not going to vote again. It’s time I gave up on this political bullshit. I just hope the nuke attack comes soon. Let it be on the East Coast where it belongs.
#11 Tairos 11/7/2006 09:27PM PST

I think this demostrates pretty clearly that voting should be a privilege, NOT a right.

(follow the link for more. The General has done stirling work in bringing these comments to us. Show him some lurve)

Originally posted at: http://grumpasaurus.com/2006/11/09/what-is-best-in-life/

Dems take the Senate! ... sorta

First, the awesome news: Webb is the victor in Virginia, giving Dems a 49-49-2 tie. Since Jeffords caucuses with the Dems by and large, it’s really now a 50-49-1 majority.

The 1? Why none other than Joe fucking Lieberman.

This self-obsessed, narcissistic, whiny, sanctimonious crybaby who focuses exclusively on his own power, recognition of same, respect of same, and getting pats on the head from the media … is now the most powerful person in the Senate, and maybe even the government.

Thanks again Clintons, Obama, Edwards, Shumer, and Reid. Your lack of support for the Democratic candidate has resulted in your friend Joe sitting in the catbird seat.

Lieberman now occupies the same position the radical fringe groups in parliaments have when they have the votes required to get some measure over the hump. Lieberman is now, essentially, the Emperor of China and his Forbidden City is about to receive a bundle of tributes and an unending stream of people of kowtowing to Holy Joe. If he caucuses with the Dems, as promised, they have a clear 51-49 majority. If he does not and once again breaks his promise to the people of this country, then the Senate is 50-50 with Cheney the tiebreaking vote.

See what you’ve done, Clintons, Obama, Edwards, Shumer, and Reid? You’ve made your Frankenstein. Now we all have to deal with it.

A better image might be the Cowardly Lion in the Wizard of Oz as he is pampered and manicured and beribboned. That is the position Rape Gurney Joe now occupies. Better get used to it.

My, Joe! Have you lost weight? Your tresses sure are lovely and shiny today. Care for a biscuit?

Originally posted at: http://grumpasaurus.com/2006/11/08/dems-take-the-senate-sorta/

That's got to sting a little

Watch as Faith Hill gets suckerpunched at the CMA for an award she thought she was going to win.

Guess doing all those magazine covers didn’t boost her votes enough. Looks like some personal assistant is going to get fired.

Originally posted at: http://grumpasaurus.com/2006/11/08/thats-got-to-sting-a-little/

Flip. Flop.

Ken Mehlman, today:

We need to make sure that every vote is counted.

Scalia in denying the same principle in Bush v. Gore, 531 US, by rejecting the dissenting opinion of Ginsberg, Souter, Stephens, and Breyer:

In deferring to state courts on matters of state law, we appropriately recognize that this Court acts as an ” ‘outside[r]’ lacking the common exposure to local law which comes from sitting in the jurisdiction.”
…
Rarely has this Court rejected outright an interpretation of state law by a state high court.
…
he Chief Justice’s casual citation of these cases might lead one to believe they are part of a larger collection of cases in which we said that the Constitution impelled us to train a skeptical eye on a state court’s portrayal of state law. But one would be hard pressed, I think, to find additional cases that fit the mold. As Justice Breyer convincingly explains, see post, at 5-9 (dissenting opinion), this case involves nothing close to the kind of recalcitrance by a state high court that warrants extraordinary action by this Court. The Florida Supreme Court concluded that counting every legal vote was the overriding concern of the Florida Legislature when it enacted the State’s Election Code.

Originally posted at: http://grumpasaurus.com/2006/11/08/flip-flop/

Say Hello to Secretary of Defense Lieberman

Donald Rumsfeld steps down

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has stepped down as defence secretary, a day after congressional elections in which opposition to the war in Iraq contributed to heavy Republican party losses.

President George Bush said he would nominate Robert Gates, a former CIA director, to replace Rumsfeld at the Pentagon.

As is his practice in matters of love as well as life, Bush was premature with his announcement before Lieberman could be sworn in for the new term. Robert Gates better not get too comfortable in that leather chair.

Originally posted at: http://grumpasaurus.com/2006/11/08/say-hello-to-secretary-of-defense-lieberman/

Voter Protection

I spent yesterday ensuring that everyone who came to my assigned precinct who wanted to vote could vote (provisionally, if nothing else). There were no disruptions outside of one crank (my state is not New Jersey, Tennessee, Ohio, or Florida … thankfully enough) and everyone there was quite knowledgable after working elections together for 20 years.

It was safe, boring, and peaceful. Just the way democracy should be.

Originally posted at: http://grumpasaurus.com/2006/11/08/voter-protection/

Wingnuttia predictotron

Nostradamus has nothing on Dean Barnett

Lest you think I'm whistling Dixie, we're already seeing the results of the Republican efforts. Yesterday the Wall Street Journal reported that early voting and absentee ballot results suggest Republicans are indeed voting in greater numbers than in 2004. (Sorry, no link, but you can trust me, right?)

None of the foregoing means the polls are worthless. It just means that to get an accurate gauge on things, you have to add a significant layer of Republican support to the reported numbers.

So what's it all mean? In the tied races, the Republican will win. In the close races, the Republican will win. It adds up to Republicans running the table in the Senate. That's right – running the table. Montana, Virginia, Missouri, Tennessee, New Jersey, Rhode Island (whoopee), and Maryland will all send or re-send Republicans to the Senate. But wait, there's more! Michigan will send Sheriff Michael Bouchard to the Senate. And in Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum is in striking distance.

In the House, the same holds true. Republican Joe Negron will take Foley's seat. New Mexico's Heather Wilson will return to Congress. So, too, will Connecticut's Chris Shays. We'll lose a handful of seats for the individual failures of certain Congressmen (hello, Curt Weldon), but we will retain control of the House.

Oh, I’m just getting started in the kitchen today. On today’s menu: crow for Republicans, bluebirds of happiness for the Dems.

Originally posted at: http://grumpasaurus.com/2006/11/08/wingnuttia-predictotron/

Politics may be the death of me yet

Death… or bankruptcy, anyway. One or the other.

While trying to figure out how I could monetize my “$100 million and climbing” HSX brilliance, I found Intrade. Holy cow is this awesome. Actual money on politics and news events. Of course, given my recent successful predictions (and GOP shenanigans), this is could just be an even easier way to lose money than Lotto.

Here’s a snapshot of some of the things you can trade in (I don’t know precisely what will come up; it’s a dynamically generated frame):

And their banner advertisement looks something like this:

Yet another thing that’s probably more Chartoo’s forte than mine, but I’m kind of excited about day trading in the presidential aspirations of Saint Rudy. I know. I need to get out more.

The biggest problem I had so far was actually getting money into the system - their security is quite a bit more comprehensive than the one-click universe we’ve been inhabiting. This is good in that I’m pretty confident any phishers aren’t going to be going there to take your money, but it can also be a drawback if you spot a sweet market opportunity for the avian flu’s arrival date in the U.S.

If you click the banner ad above, theoretically I get $50 if you both put some money in and do a bunch of trading over the next 90 days. If you just want to go to intrade.com and skip the lurve-giving to me part, I’m totally OK with that. I’ll just give you the puppy dog eyes and maybe sigh a little bit.

Originally posted at: http://grumpasaurus.com/2006/11/06/politics-may-be-the-death-of-me-yet/

We're All Prisoners, Now

Proposed HSA rule will require US Citizens to have ‘’Clearance'’ in order to leave the country

Forget no-fly lists. If Uncle Sam gets its way, beginning on Jan. 14, 2007, we’ll all be on no-fly lists, unless the government gives us permission to leave-or re-enter-the United States.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (HSA) has proposed that all airlines, cruise lines-even fishing boats-be required to obtain clearance for each passenger they propose taking into or out of the United States.

It doesn’t matter if you have a U.S. Passport - a “travel document” that now, absent a court order to the contrary, gives you a virtually unqualified right to enter or leave the United States, any time you want. When the DHS system comes into effect next January, if the agency says “no” to a clearance request, or doesn’t answer the request at all, you won’t be permitted to enter-or leave-the United States.
…
The U.S. Supreme Court has long recognized there is a constitutional right to travel internationally. Indeed, it has declared that the right to travel is “a virtually unconditional personal right.” The United States has also signed treaties guaranteeing “freedom of travel.” So if these regulations do go into effect, you can expect a
lengthy court battle, both nationally and internationally.

Think this can’t happen? Think again. It’s ALREADY happening. Earlier this year, HSA forbade airlines from transporting an 18-year-old a native-born U.S. citizen, back to the United States. The prohibition lasted nearly six months until it was finally lifted a few weeks ago. Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union are two countries in recent history that didn’t allow their citizens to travel abroad without permission. If these regulations go into effect, you can add the United States to this list.

As someone who is already on the no-fly list, I can tell you that this is not something I look forward to. Aside from the proposed rule being unconstitutional and a great example of just how authoritarian this country has become under the Busheviks of course.

Read the IDP’s comments on the proposed rule change for a fuller understanding of just what, precisely is at stake here. You may think it hyperbole when I say “nothing less than our freedoms, nothing less than our lives”… but it’s not.

It’s no small step for authoritarianism to take even more control of our society after this rule is implemented. After all, it’s not like the DHS hasn’t been used for domestic partisan purposes in contravention of its charter, the law, and the Constution before.

Originally posted at: http://grumpasaurus.com/2006/11/05/were-all-prisoners-now/

Saddam guilty, sentenced to death, 2 days before US elections

Not to be redundant or anything, but gee, what a surprise.

President George W. Bush hailed the conviction of Saddam Hussein as a milestone in Iraq but Democrats vowed to take the war there in a new direction if they seize control of the U.S. Congress on Tuesday.

The former Iraq president was sentenced to death by hanging by a U.S.- sponsored court in Baghdad on Sunday after being found guilty of crimes against humanity. Bush did not directly address the death sentence that has been assailed by Washington's close European allies.

I think they gave up even trying to pretend that it was anything but a show trial in a kangaroo court about 7 months ago. Once they started barring defense witnesses form taking the stand or giving Saddam any more time after his umpteenth lawyer was assassinated, it was observant to all but the mouthbreathers of the 101st Fighting Keyboard brigade that the fix was in.

Needless to say, I have serious questions about the legitimacy of this verdict and this court. This was no Nuremberg, this was the biggest show since the Moscow Trials.

Note: I'm not commenting at all on the merits or lack thereof of Hussein himself, merely on the procedural inadequacies that made this court and this verdict no more relevant to justice than a shadow play is to a popcorn vendor.

A proper trial would have shed light on many of Saddam's activities and answered questions that he will now apparently take with him to the grave. No good ever comes from false showings of justice or pretensions of the rule of law. Much like voting Republican, only bad can come of these lies.

Remember, Remember

the 5th of November

Well

Looks like I figured out one way to simul-post. Cool.

(also available at http://grumpasaurus.com/2006/11/04/well/)

Webhosting, anyone?

If you're in the market for some webhosting, and enjoy getting a great deal, consider signing up with Bluehost (my hosting company). $6.95/mo with tons of space and domain options. Can't say I've been disappointed.

Best part is if you sign up through me, *I* get a little lurve from them, which makes it easier for me to keep on blogging. Woo.



Or, if Bluehost isn't to your liking, how about Hostmonster? They offer a load of features for a price even lower than Bluehost's.



Hostgator, too

aaaaand Dreamhost

No soldier left behind

Until the Bush administration, at least.

American soldiers rolled up their barbed-wire barricades and lifted a near siege of the largest Shiite Muslim enclave in Baghdad on Tuesday, heeding the orders of a Shiite-led Iraqi government whose assertion of sovereignty had Shiites celebrating in the streets.

The order by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to lift the week-old blockade of Sadr City was one of the most overt expressions of self-determination by Iraqi leaders in the 3 1/2 -year-old U.S. occupation. It followed two weeks of increasingly pointed exchanges between Iraqi and U.S. officials, as well as a video conference between Maliki and President Bush on Saturday.

The soldiers had sealed off Sadr city in pursuit of a kidnapped American soldier, and now, on the orders of a foreign national that pursuit is being called off. Excuse me? Is the US military now taking orders from a puppet head of state?

Of course they aren't. What they are doing is taking orders from Bush-Cheny-Rumsfeld who told them to abandon an American soldier because of political considerations.

The move lifted a near siege that had stood at least since last Wednesday. U.S. military police imposed the blockade after the kidnapping of an American soldier of Iraqi descent. The soldier's Iraqi in-laws said they believed he had been abducted by the Mahdi Army as he visited his wife at her home in the Karrada area of Baghdad, where U.S. military checkpoints were also removed as a result of Maliki's action.

The crackdown on Sadr City had a second motive, U.S. officers said: the search for Abu Deraa, a man considered one of the most notorious death squad leaders. The soldier and Abu Deraa both were believed by the U.S. military to be in Sadr City.

Remember when the righties said that we could have won in Vietnam if not for the micromanaging of targets? Of the directives that came from DC to the operatives in the field? This is no different than McNamara, but even McNamara never abandoned an American soldier to a hostile force.

It's just a distraction, people

There's a phony "controversy" being brewed up by the righties with an able assist from the media, concerning a misspoken joke by Sen. Kerry and the resulting purposeful twisting and attacking the twist strawman move by the right. The media is pushing this so hard that even Ms. Grumpy was aware of it from her deep groundhog lair of studying. (I heard it mentioned on NPR twice in my commute last night and three times this morning. I can just imagine what Faux and the wingnutosphere is doing. All for a single misspeak by a senator who is not even running for reelection).

This is:
a) irrelevant;
b) wasn't defamatory; and
c) is an attempt to distract people from Iraq, Katrina, Iraq, Foley, Iraq, Delay, Iraq, Cunningham, Iraq, Abramoff, Iraq, civil liberties, Iraq, warrantless wiretapping, Iraq, domestic spying, Iraq and Iraq

We should also note how batshit crazy John McCain, who has been silent on Cheney's waterboarding "no-brainer" comment and the US military abandoning a soldier and obeying the commands of a foreign leader, is oh-so-vocal about this nonissue.