The View From Battlefield

Well, of course it is. On the othe hand, this Yahoo! article contains some interesting quotes. I really wonder about the intelligence and honesty of some of the people they find to quote. Try these:

"I think her son would be ashamed of her," said Carver, a Republican. "If I don't like what's going on, I can go to the polls every four years."

I CALL BULLSHIT. Out of curosity, who exactly is in contact with Casey Sheehan and how? Can you please tell me his exact words?

"Our attention span is simply shorter," said Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Our willingness to put up with a difficult military situation and losses isn't what it used to be."

OK, I won't call bullshit, I don't know about attention spans, but a lot of us, I mean A LOT knew this war and it's justifications were bullshit. We knew it in the beginning. We knew it when Colin Powell went to the UN. And frankly some people owe me apologies. A lot of apologies.

Robin Brown, a Republican from Douglasville, Ga., says the U.S. troops will eventually achieve their mission "if people will hang in there with them."

Madame Brown apparently used her crystal ball to figure this out, because it sure wasn't logic.

Vivian Snyder, a Republican from Staten Island, N.Y., said she disagreed with the decision to invade Iraq, but doesn't want troops to leave yet. "Otherwise, it's all for nothing."

I CALL BULLSHIT! This is just a variation on the stay the course rhetoric we've been listening to for four years (although not exactly in the Iraq ware context). What makes people think that things are going to change? Again, please tell me what the logic is. Because right this smells like nothing more than jingoism.

I'd like to award these two a second I call BULLSHIT. I still know of nobody -- I MEAN NOBODY - that's has anything but respect for the troops. All of my frustration and anger are directed specifically at the Bush-Cheney neocon-men, not our troops. And on that note, we might want to ask why the decreases in veteran's benefits and closings of the VA hospitals and the lack of body armour and the unprotected Humvees.....You know, it's getting to be a long list and I think it's the Idiot President and the Republican congress that's the problem. And indeed, that is one of our points.

An overwhelming number of people say critics of the
Iraq war should be free to voice their objections — a rare example of widespread agreement about a conflict that has divided the nation along partisan lines.

Okay, I can't quibble with that. 90% is a really big number. And it's nice to see we really think that, but then why do we put up with violent minority, like the VFW. This group is now clearly outside of the mainstream. And as far as I can tell, they are just as guilty of hate speech as the Radical Cleric Pat Robertson.

Let's have some of you people starting explaining your thinking and logic instead of just repeating expressions you think are cute. Echoing the idiot president is not a good idea. He has proven to be thoroughly dishonest and we know he does not have your best interests at heart. Just wait until he's done raping Social Security. I'm sure we'll all feel better then.

First, let me say Lance's career and the overcoming of cancer is the very definition of truly remarkable. He had some sort of a meltdown at his final press conference (I can excuse that since he was probably overcome with emotion), but his accomplishments are just plain astounding. As big a sports nut as I am, I can't think of another athelete with a comparable record. (Lance -- about that final press conference. It's not that we disrespect you, but you picked a sport many of us don't follow. And I doubt nearly as many people would have followed it if it weren't for you.)

Now, let me cut Armstrong some slack and put the heat to my fellow bloggers. A lot of people think he should have confronted W about Cindy Sheehan and tell him to go visit. And since he didn't, they're stating their disappointment. Part of this is because he has publicly denounced the war in Iraq. I say Nonsense, I say!

Armstrong's objective and pet cause is cancer. This is a worthy goal and desparately needs funding. He is not an anti-war activist. Putting that on his shoulders is not quite fair. What would have been fair would be to ask him to do it, but he has every right to say no. Would you ask a member of the Sierra Club to take up the anti-war cause? Folks, this just isn't logical. Not to mention, if he were unprepared, it could be worse instead of better.

It's not clear, but bringing up anti-war discussions would probably jeopardize any progress in his war on cancer. And, I repeat, getting funding for the treatment of and research into cancer is a worthy task. So I say, leave the guy alone.

The radical cleric Pat Robertson has called for the assasination of Hugo Chavez.

People, especially those of you of a conservative, Republican bent that want to lick Georgie's ass, need to think about a few things:

• Does this sort of behavior echo what you're thinking? Seriously?


• Is this something Jesus would have done? WWJD? Is this sort of attitude Christian?


• How would you feel if you had heard that an Islamic cleric issued such a statement about the Idiot President?


• Why are American civilians calling for the killing of a (twice) freely elected head of state?


• Does the radical cleric Robertson realize that Venezula supplies us with a lot of our oil?


• Does the radical cleric Robertson realize that this sort of statement will be used to fuel anti-American rhetoric? Behavior he himself has said should illegal.

Let me speak up and say now, Robertson, and the rest of the radical clerics, like Dobson and Falwell, should be silenced. They are a pox on our society. They do not speak for me, and I'd bet, 75% of the population. Most Americans are decent, hard working people. It's just right now we have an idiot bastard for a president and it's caused all of the idiots to come out from under their rocks. And most of all, this talk is not constructive in any way. In fact, it can only be intended as divisive hate mongering.

Does anybody think this scumbag will apoligize? Do you think anybody in the administration will denounce his behavior? No, they'll probably say he has a right to express his opinion. How is this not hate speach?

MSNBC is reporting that some school districts are cutting back on classroom expenses so the buses can run.

How is it that the big oil teams are making record profits, swimming in money, and the middle and lower classes are paying the price? How is it that Dickhead Cheney is still not disconnected himself from Enron. Excuse me. Halliburton.

Yeah. I'm sure the government can be trusted with our personal data. It's got to be safe.. After all, it is the benevolent fuck ups that are in charge.

This is just plan unacceptable on the Air Force's part. Worse, the House wants to pass legislation that will ignore allowances for identity theft as the very systems they are supposed to oversee allow unauthorized entry.

Wired had a series of articles on RFID tags. This technology has serious privacy implications that everybody needs to think about.

1. First, a not real technical run down of what RFID is and what it ain't.


2. British cars are going to get RFID'ed license plates. This stinks to high heaven. Think of the abuses we've seen going for deadbeat dads, and now this. This is not only extremely intrusive, ripe for abuse it is certain to become de riguer in the US because courts have held time and again, that you have no right to privacy, and should not even have that expectation, while driving down the street.


3. Now the airlines are starting to test RF enabled passports. The article title makes it sound like that, anyway, but it is the government's plan, not United Airlines' idea. And doesn't United have a lot more urgent things to worry about?

Let me say first off, the President is a fucking idiot. Now, let's get to the heart of the matter. Here's what's wrong with what he wants and what's wrong with intelligent design.

1. There is no debate about evolution. It's a fact, period. You cannot find a consense of scientist, real ones, I mean, that will debate this point. (I will concede that being in a minority does not make them wrong. That's not the point) Something being complicate does not prove the existence of anything except complicated topics. Advanced Statistics is hard. Hitting a curve ball is hard. I have never heard of a link between either of those and a "higher being." Well, except for Roger Clemens, but he don't count!


2. ID is not science. There's nothing you can say that changes this basic fact or even make it fuzzy or gray.


3. If teaching opposing viewpoints is right and proper, then we need to make sure socialism and facism is taught in schools. And, maybe we could start out with something basic, really simple point the fucking idiot in the White House can't quite seem to grasp -- We live in a REPUBLIC not a DEMOCRACY. As an aside, how is it the President's newest Supreme Court nominee doesn't know this?


4. Last time I checked, teaching religon in science class was not proper.


5. Home and church can be used for this purpose. If you aren't attending and/or can't get your kids to go, how is that my family's problem? While you're at it, make sure to let them know that the Earth is the center of the universe and the Earth really is flat.


6. There is, in fact, not a conflict between ID and evolution is you can wrap their teenie little brains around one fact -- evolution could be one of the creator's creations.


7. The reason there are gaps in the evolutionary record is because it is so long and extensive. Give that one up, because if lack of proof is your problem with evolution, then it means that ID has no chance at all. ID is completely "faith-based" and there's no getting around this basic fact<


8. Most of the people pushing ID are just plain dishonest. Look at their records and post a response telling me why this isn't true and make sure you come to this fight armed with facts.

Now which Christian extremists want to argue the point?

The WaPo has an article on Weasel's vacation.

Read it. Read it again. And remember, the message here from GWB is plain and simple. FUCK YOU.

Hey, don't blame me. I voted for Kerry.

This article in the IT Manager's Journal talking about how IT worker's don't feel valued. Listen, I'm not a wuss, but this is another symptom of the things I was talking about the other day. It's pretty much the same here in the US. The song goes something like

"OF COURSE you are valued, your "customers" are very happy, but there's no raises. And, oh, by the way, we're shipping half of our IT jobs to Bangalore."

For some reason, there is no US survey sited from any later than 1999. (sarcasm)No, nothing's changed since then. Workers be damned!(/sarcasm)

One thing the article states is

The fact that they don't feel valued means there's not enough communication actually telling them they are valued. It's one thing to do it indirectly through training and promotion, but in this instance they have to say 'you are valued -- we value your skills, and this is a manifestation of how we value you.'"

Hey! You left out the word honest. As in "there's not enough honest communication actually telling them they are valued."

This is going back in time, but a Texas Attorney General, for the University of Texas, won a judgement against a dating service (story here) for the sending of Unsolicited Commercial E-mail. A high faluitin' way to say spam. That was in March. Well, yesterday, the scumbags, er, spammers, lost their appeal of their appeal. (poetic license)

The rather bizarre, IMO, opinion of the spammers (I will not mention their name here because they're scumbags) is that the CAN-SPAM act allows the sending of spam. In the back of my mind, I've been nervous about this because in court, you get lawyering, not common sense or justice.

The issue once again, should be that UT had to even block this stuff. UT is incurring time and expenses just to take care of the spam traffic whether they block it or not. And there's the cost of storage and forwarding if they don't block it. This is just rotten behavior on the part of the spam scum.

This isn't a major victory. I doubt there will be a major victory, but 1,000 little ones like this that eventually pile up and put an end to this sort of behavior.

Bonus Query: Why do advertisers get to grab every inch of space? Above commodes in men's rooms, the front of esalator steps, on gasoline pumps.....You do have a right to speak, but you do not have a right to force me to listen. Or read. Whatever.

There's also this post from the American Rights At Work, who I know nothing about. Just that I agree with this particular post. And a lot of things on their site. I'm adding a bookmark.

How can this be right? Doesn't that mean I can't invite Al, Shandrof and Becquer over for a barbeque?

The "American Jobs Creation Act of 2004" is working to bring $$$$$ ashore. But the jobs referred to in this most cynical of titles (the act's, not mine) is just one more lie. As reported in this Business Week article. Here's the tidbit I'd missed earlier

Hiring, capital investment, research and development, marketing, acquisitions, pension funding, and debt repayment all qualify -- and companies do not have to disclose specifics of their spending plans. They also have three years to allocate the cash. Moreover, if a company plows its foreign profits into research and development, for instance, it could take money previously earmarked for research and use it elsewhere. "You can't trace the money," points out Mickey D. Levy, chief economist at Bank of America Corp.

I guess there's two tidbits there. A) the money doesn't have to be used for hiring (we knew that) and B) the companies don't have to report how the money is spent. Great law, huh? Protects everybody except the workers and the people.

I'm listening to this David Gregory interview, via Crooks and Liars (two thumbs up) with Jean Schmidt, the OH-02 candidate. Turkey. Something. Let's see what they and her worried about and think in Ohio.

1. Border control. Hmmmm. Given the location of OH-02, that can only mean with Kentucky.


2. Ethanol. Really?


3. They believe what the President says and what he's doing in Iraq is correct.


4. "...its more important to fight the enemies of freedom on their shores than ours...". I call BULLSHIT


5. Paul Hackett (her opponent) is a shill of the Democratic party. She even invoked the names Nancy Pelosi and Ted Kennedy for effect.


6. It's okay for Schmidt to qoute the President and his speech writers. Justify these two bullets, if you can.


7. That Sadam Hussien said he had WMD. I call BULLSHIT. One of the justifications for this idiotic was was the bizarre twist that since Saddam can't produce those weapons and claims he doesn't have them, he must be hiding them. Did this ever make sense?


8. Saddam wouldn't allow inspectors into Iraq. I call BULLSHIT.
   

OK, that's enough bullshit for now. This lady if a fucking disaster.

I need to stop holding back. I'm going to give myself an ulcer.

Update: 10:41 CDT. Link repaired. CDT Another post......

I'm with Susie Madrak on this one but want to be a little strong. Let me quote from the WaPo

On the same day that the White House announced that President Bush is nominating California billionaire Roland E. Arnall to be ambassador to the Netherlands, the company he controls said it would set aside $325 million for a possible settlement of allegations of predatory lending tactics.

Arnall's company, Ameriquest Mortgage Co., is being investigated by regulators in 30 states. A $325 million settlement would be one of the largest ever in a predatory lending case.

Ameriquest is the nation's biggest privately held mortgage company. The company, which is in negotiations with a group of attorneys general to resolve the investigations, said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday that the amount "represents the company's best estimate of its maximum financial liability for a comprehensive resolution of this matter."

It seems to be required that you be a scum bag before Chimp Boy can recommend you. Just what is going on here? Was there something in both his compaigns about honor and respect? How about compassionate conservativism? This guy is just a clown and the entire county, except for the Bushitistas themselves, are going to pay the price.

You know, the guy is the President of the USA. Doesn't he know anybody without civil and criminal liabilities?

I fear for the Repbulic.