Saturday, August 2, 2008

Kill again?

Pakistani intelligence say they think al-Qaida explosives expert Abu Khabab al-Masri was among six people killed in Monday's missile strike but apparently they do not have the body.

Al-Masri also was reported killed in the January 2006 strike that targeted al-Zawahri but his body was never found.

Friday, August 1, 2008

Buck, Mills, Stipe seeking Fung

They need his help to ward off a challenger on the Facebook chartzzz...

Smiff Moving Back to Chi-Town?

Coz, like, his state no longer exists...

Russia wipes California from its map
Thu Jul 31, 12:46 PM ET

MOSCOW (Reuters) - California will no longer exist on the Russian map.

Russia's north-western region of Nizhny Novgorod has decided to eliminate the tiny village of California due to the lack of inhabitants, Itar-Tass news agency reported on Thursday.

The village was set up in the 19th century by a Russian landowner as a snub to the government for selling Alaska to the United States in 1867, Tass said.

The once vibrant village has been in decline since the Soviet collapse, with the last of its residents leaving in 2000 to seek better lives elsewhere.

It will now officially cease to exist as a geographical unit but it was unclear if its buildings, including a school, would also be destroyed.

Thousands of villages, abandoned by people moving to cities, are scattered across Russia, many in ruins but some frozen in time, their wooden huts unchanged for decades.

(Writing by Maria Golovnina, editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Mary Gabriel)

Smiff gone wild

Smiff clocks Panthers teammate, then sent home

Republicans embrace the Twitter

The Revolution is not being televised!

http://twitter.com/petehoekstra
~

Corms Enters the 21st Century

Corms now has both high speed internet and digital cable at home. He will not be missed.

100 billion Zimbabwe dollars - you can ride the bus


Harare diary: No more trillionaires

Just last week, bus fares changed three times!

We started the week paying Z$50bn, then it was Z$70bn, then Z$100bn.

Help, Legal Expert

FCC formally rules Comcast's throttling of BitTorrent was illegal

Federal regulators voted 3-2 on Friday to declare that Comcast's throttling of BitTorrent traffic last year was unlawful, marking the first time that any U.S. broadband provider has ever been found to violate Net neutrality rules.

Apparently Comcast was mad at all those people who were sharing all those huge music and video files with a million of their closest friends using peer to peer software that can't be shut down as easily as Napster does. These people use way more of the internet than you or I updating this blog, yet they pay the same amount every month. "Excessive", Comcast called it, without defining what that meant. So Comcast had to either put in a whole lot more bandwidth, or make everyone suffer for these "file sharers", who are probably sharing files illegally anyway. They came up with a third option - slow down the file sharers while keeping "regular" traffic untouched. Which, I suppose may be a good way to do it, AS LONG AS YOU TELL US YOU'RE DOING IT BEFORE WE SIGN THE DOTTED LINE!

Net neutrality says that people should be able to use any application over the internet. Which is fine, I agree with that. However, these applications start to cause problems when they use up a whole lot of bandwidth. Because someone is sharing files, viewing videos etc. either my internet slows down or I have to pay more because my ISP has to invest more to increase bandwidth. Is that fair? Well, probably not. But we have the same problem with public goods, like the roads, or public transit, the police - I'm guessing on some of those you come out ahead, on others you don't. Overall you might even out. So I suppose I should be all for paying more if it means that I'll be able to use whatever application or device that may be invented in the future.

So, Comcast was trying to make a particular application unusable, because it (probably) cut into their profits, and so it was found illegal. However...

It (also) is likely to be challenged in court. In 2006, Congress rejected five different bills that would have handed the FCC the power to police Net neutrality violations; the FCC has acknowledged that its own Net neutrality principles "are not enforceable"; the Supreme Court has previously ruled that the FCC has no power to regulate "unless and until Congress confers power upon it."

So they made a ruling, but it is unenforceable. So why make it? How can Comcast violate rules that don't really exist yet?

In the meantime, I believe Comcast is coming up with a limit of traffic every month, above which their users would be charged for excessive traffic. The problem is that in most cases, Comcast is a monopoly. We need competition. We need to start our own ISP. Who's with me?

After 3 days of getting work done...

'Scrabulous' gets a nip-tuck, returns as 'Wordscraper'

Sumerians: weren't funny

World's oldest joke traced back to 1900 BC

It is a saying of the Sumerians, who lived in what is now southern Iraq and goes: "Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap."

Thursday, July 31, 2008

I guess Manny for Favre fell through

FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal reports that the Pirates will get Andy LaRoche and Bryan Morris from the Dodgers and Brandon Moss and Craig Hansen from the Red Sox for their part in the Manny Ramirez-Jason Bay deal.
We thought LaRoche would be the one top prospect the Pirates wouldn't focus on, given the presence of Pedro Alvarez and Neil Walker as potential long-term third basemen. Instead, he's the one top talent they get. The inclusion of Moss and Hansen when they could have been used in other deals makes this an especially unimpressive deal for Boston. One could argue that Bay is as valuable as Ramirez once defense is taken into account, but there are certainly plenty of AL teams glad that the Red Sox made this trade. Jul. 31 - 4:46 pm et

what a dirtbag

The President’s policies of spending restraint have held down the growth in spending in the face of significant fiscal pressures on the Government over the past seven and a half years as a result of the September 11th terrorist attacks, the ensuing Global War on Terror, Hurricane Katrina, and increasing entitlement costs. These challenges came on top of significant underfunding in national security, an inherited recession, and an economy built on a high-tech bubble. The President’s tax relief and other pro-growth policies worked to strengthen the economy, and the resulting revenue growth helped drive down the deficit substantially over the last three years...

Despite myriad fiscal pressures, the President is committed to policies that restrain Federal spending and balance the budget by 2012 (by which time it will be somebody else's problem. Suckers! Ed.).

-- Federal budget Mid-Session Review, which (you would never know it from reading this) gives a low-ball estimate (lie) of a record $482 beeelllion deficit for FY09.

Or, to put it another way: "Bush... is determined to insist, on his way out the door, that the tax cuts he once said were required by the surplus he inherited are now required by the deficit he is creating."

Jim 'Anchovies' Hendry: A great genius? Or, the greatest genius?

Scoring Summary
Top 3rd: Chi Cubs
- J. Edmonds homered to deep right
Top 4th: Chi Cubs
- J. Edmonds homered to deep left, M. DeRosa, A. Ramirez and K. Fukudome scored

10 years too late

Sports Headline: Ken (it's not iffy if it's) Griffey, Jr acquired by Chicago White Sox, pending all sorts of $#!+ blowing up.

98% of this is over my head...

But Zogby sucks. I get that part.

It continues...

3 Cub fans arrested after fight with Brewers supporter
2 accused of attacking Wisconsin man; 3rd man charged with hitting his sister

Tribune staff report
11:05 PM CDT, July 30, 2008

MILWAUKEE — Two Chicago-area men are accused of beating up a suburban Milwaukee man who police say threw a bag of trash at their bus after the Milwaukee Brewers' loss to the Chicago Cubs at Miller Park.

Officers arrested the Cubs fans from Downers Grove, 25 and 26, Tuesday night, officials said.

Police say three men got off the bus after a 24-year-old West Allis man threw a bag of trash.

The third man, 34, from Joliet, also was arrested and received a ticket for assault and battery after he punched his sister as she tried to intervene, police said. He also was cited for resisting arrest and possession of drug paraphernalia, Milwaukee police spokeswoman Anne Schwartz said.

Felony charges of substantial battery are pending against the Downers Grove men, she said.

The Brewers fan was cited for disorderly conduct and taken to a local hospital.

Proving, once again, that 100 years of futility makes a team's fans extremely provokable.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Damn Libruls

And dat Ron Paul guy - trying to hasten the end times...

Legislators take on pot policy

Look, people, pot is not like alcohol and tobacco. It's way, waaaaay more dangerous. Because then you'll do other illegal drugs. Which are not the legal drugs that American Pharma has for you to take. That's when you're not taking what InBev and SAB Miller and Altria have prepared for over the counter medication. These are dangerous times, my friends. If this goes through, well, I'm not saying the rapture is coming, but I am.

Dream Girl Rapping About Physics?

Get in line, fellas.

Funny, I often call Funster, "the beast," as well

Mrs. Martin agreed to be her husband’s levitating guinea pig. Mr. Martin yoked the unit to a pole in the garage so it would lift her without moving around, put a kind of brake at the top of the pole in case the engine was stronger than he thought, and strapped her in. She admits now that, deep down, she was not sure she would take off. At the same time, she was “very scared” of the device she calls “the beast.”

America's struggle to be Number One is paying off!!!

If black America were a country, it would rank 16th in the world in the number of
people living with the AIDS virus, the Black AIDS Institute, an advocacy group, reported Tuesday.

Go America! You can do it! Be Number One! Woof! Woof! Woof!

I'm sure all that abstenence-only sex-ed promoted by W will get us there too!

Woof! Woof! Woof!

Remember Kids, Condoms are for Nerds and only Homosexuals get HIV.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Even Plutocrats are getting out

US time bomb
Even the wealthy hand back negative equity homes

Though banks can repossess and sell the homes of borrowers who stop paying their mortgages, under a legal quirk originating in the Great Depression of the 1930s, banks cannot easily pursue borrowers for any balance outstanding on the main mortgage on their homes.

Consequently, by walking away from her apartment, Ms Trainer has also walked away from the $200,000 loss on her property.

Her bank gets stuck with that.

Ms Trainer says she feels no moral obligation to go on paying a loan on a property that is going to go on losing her money. She says her friends support her decision.

With this kind of talk, let's see if we'll still have banks by the end of the year...

Incidentally, this may be a fad I should see into taking up. Just walk away and let the bank eat the loss? Stick it to them banks. That made it possible to buy my apartment. And it's furnishings. And a whole buncha crap before that.

It's the banks fault we're in this situation anyway, isn't it? They're the ones who lent any amount to anyone with a pulse. Then they conned other people into buying our mortgages to make a quick buck. They're the ones that should suffer. And it's not as if it's all roses if I walk away - my credit will be ruined for years. Which means I should be able to buy another house in about 6 months.

I am shocked that there is corruption going on here

Ted Stevens indicted

KO yammering on about BushCo again...

Republicans have taken Nixon's disgraced tactics and approach to presidential power as their starting point. They have learned that if caught, deny it. If that doesn't work, ignore the fact you have been caught and just keep doing it, and claim you have the inherent power to do so. They can get away with it because right-wing talk radio and Fox Cable News have become the cheering section that did not exist during Watergate. As for oversight, during the first six years of the Bush/Cheney administration, the GOP-controlled Congress could not even spell the word "oversight." Only now are we approaching real tests of whether the Democratic Congress will go the distance to get the information they are entitled to have.

Then again, what would you expect from... wait... that was John Dean who said that. Sorry.

Cubs fans can't use words

So they use fists instead...

Cubs fans accused of beating White Sox fan
The Associated Press
8:31 PM CDT, July 28, 2008

HUNTLEY, Ill. - McHenry County authorities say three Chicago Cubs fans face felony battery charges after allegedly beating a Chicago White Sox fan so badly he lost his right eye.

The men are accused of beating 32-year-old Robert Steele of Gurnee during a 2-year-old girl's Sesame Street-themed birthday party.

Police said Monday the men were drinking alcohol at the July 19th party and taunting Steele.

They say Steele was kicked in the head and his nose was broken. He stayed several days at an Elgin hospital.

Thirty-one-year-old Jaroslaw Czapla, 37-year-old Boguslaw Czapla and 33-year-old Maciej Trojnar face mob action and aggravated battery charges.

Jaroslaw Czapla's number is unlisted. There were no listings for Boguslaw Czapla or Trojnar.

Sarge off the hook

As is Corms, who is (was) on a double digit losing streak...

Scrabulous is disabled for US and Canadian users until further notice. If you would like to stay informed about developments in this matter, please click here.

Hopefully plans to move to New Zealand are at an advanced stage...

Monday, July 28, 2008

Google This

So, I googled Fungster, just to see what would come up. Apparently, there are other Fungsters out there. I always suspected there were, since I couldn't get fungster @ aol or yahoo and in some other instances, though sometimes I thought I'd signed up for something and then had forgottend the password or canceled it and that's why it was unavailable. But there were quite a few as it turned out. So much for thinking I'm unique...

I fell asleep in the middle of posting this

On the other hand, for fans of yellow cards, there were fireworks aplenty.

Final
Chicago 0
Kansas City 0

Substitutions
CHICAGO SUBSTITUTION: Patrick Nyarko for Tomasz Frankowski in the 62nd minute
CHICAGO SUBSTITUTION: Stephen King for Chris Rolfe in the 77th minute
KANSAS CITY SUBSTITUTION: Nelson Pizarro for Aaron Hohlbein in the 80th minute
KANSAS CITY SUBSTITUTION: Ryan Pore for Josh Wolff in the 84th minute
KANSAS CITY SUBSTITUTION: Ivan Trujillo for Claudio Lopez in the 84th minute
CHICAGO SUBSTITUTION: Daniel Woolard for Gonzalo Segares in the 89th minute

Yellow Cards
CHICAGO CAUTION: Bakary Soumare in the 21st minute
CHICAGO CAUTION: Diego Gutierrez in the 55th minute
CHICAGO CAUTION: Cuauhtemoc Blanco in the 57th minute
KANSAS CITY CAUTION: Roger Espinoza in the 59th minute

Christian cronyism (cont'd)



Justice Officials Repeatedly Broke Law on Hiring, Report Says (Irony Not Intended)

Former Justice Department counselor Monica M. Goodling and former chief of staff D. Kyle Sampson routinely broke the law by conducting political litmus tests on candidates for jobs as immigration judges and line prosecutors, according to an inspector general's report released today.

Goodling passed over hundreds of qualified applicants and squashed the promotions of others after deeming candidates insufficiently loyal to the Republican party, said investigators, who interviewed 85 people and received information from 300 other job seekers at Justice. Sampson developed a system to screen immigration judge candidates based on improper political considerations and routinely took recommendations from the White House Office of Political Affairs and Presidential Personnel, the report said.

Goodling regularly asked candidates for career jobs, "What is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?" the report said. (Great rezziDUNCE? Or, the greatest rezziDUNCE? Where do you see George Bush in five years? If you could be any kind of sycophant, which kind would you be? Ed.) One former Justice Department official told investigators she had complained that Goodling was asking interviewees for their views on abortion, according to the report.


Here's annudder shocker: Goodling is part of the Regent University army in the Bush White House.

According to Regent University, more than 150 of its graduates have been hired by the federal government since George W. Bush came to office in 2001.

-- The Wikipedia


Motto: "Christian Leadership to Change the World." Yes.

Scary $#!+

Angelo: It came down to Berrian or Briggs (Yahoo! Sports)

Really? A great defender (and member of the LoC, well, sort of) or an average receiver? This scares me, only less so because we kept the right guy. Until he crashes his brand new car into an underpass on the Edens, that is.

there are zero Cuil hits for "America-hating 'Americans' hating America," by the way...

Cuil, new search engine

If only I had chosen to use my awesome powers for good instead of evil...

News item: Manager Jim Riggleman noted that Erik Bedard still isn't to the point where he can throw, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Riggleman added that it is going to take time, and is unsure when it is going to be.

rich phokks in the news (cont'd)


More class war yammering on from the commies who publish The Nation.

...the holders of great wealth — especially if they are organized into a political lobby of similar holders of great wealth — can buy not only more goods, more capital, and more people. They can also buy (through the vehicle of campaign contributions) more important people: politicians and other public officials and therefore public policies.

Some of these bought policies may be for the purpose of making the rich even richer, most obviously the current regressive tax policies of the Bush administration. The wealth of the very rich is never the product of free enterprise and the free market alone but comes by operating within and exploiting a network of government supports, such as licenses, regulations, subsidies, and contracts. It is the product of a sort of giveaway. Consequently, to reduce the taxes on wealth (estate taxes) or on the income from wealth (capital-gains taxes), when that wealth has been acquired with one or another kind of government support, is in effect to give the wealth holder an additional give-away...

Having even more wealth than they had before, the very rich can thus buy even more government supports and giveaways and acquire even more wealth, enabling them to buy even more government supports and giveaways. And so on. The result of great wealth buying public policies is a positive feedback loop, or perhaps a vicious cycle, which transfers ever greater wealth and power to the very rich and away from everyone else.


Then again, what would you expect from... wait... that article appeared in The American Conservative. Sorry.