Saturday, May 31, 2008

Christian group whining about Starbucks "new" logo

Starbucks is switching back to their original logo, which Howard Schultz described as "bare-breasted and Rubenesque; [it] was supposed to be as seductive as coffee itself". So, of course, the crazies who equate sex with the devil are going...crazy...over it. Can't we send them back to the 16th century? they said "The company might as well call themselves Slutbucks."

But this makes for quite a fun thought: You could get a Starbucks coffee and take it with you while you ride the South Lake Union Trolley (aka S.L.U.T.) It could be more fun than the Duck tour for tourists. It could even have a stopover at the Lusty Lady.

Another example where some Christian group is trying to push their version of "morals" on others. I'm fine if they want to boycott Starbucks. Maybe the lines will be shorter.

BBC NEWS | Business | Anger at 'slutty' Starbucks logo


There was not a unanimous consensus that Iraq had WMDs

It's sickening that this easily-debunked story line is being trotted out in the media without being challenged. This posting lists several agencies who were not convinced.

Think Progress » McCain Reacts To McClellan: ‘Every Intelligence Agency In The World And Every Assessment’ Said Iraq Had WMD
The Bush administration did set up its own intelligence shops to disseminate faulty intelligence about Iraq’s alleged WMD. But “every” agency in the “world” did not buy the spin — several U.S. agencies were highly skeptical


O'Donnell Schools Buchanan

Oh, this is rich! Lawrence O'Donnell calls Pat Buchanan out for criticizing Scott McClellan for the very same thing he did under Nixon: not saying anything or opposing or resigning in the face of wrongdoing.

Crooks and Liars » Lawrence O’Donnell Humiliates Pat Buchanan


Why are self-respecting women still Catholic?

Can you say "Catholics hate women"? How many Catholics "turn the other cheek" at these anti-women policies their church "holy" officials are still supporting with extreme consequences for disobeying? Seriously! Isn't it at the point where doing nothing to challenge the Vatican on these ancient misogynistic practices and beliefs means that you are complicit in perpetuating them (i.e. just as guilty)?

Vatican says will excommunicate women priests » Rational Review
“The Vatican issued its most explicit decree so far against the ordination of women priests on Thursday, punishing them and the bishops who try to ordain them with automatic excommunication. The decree was written by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and published in the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, giving it immediate effect. A Vatican spokesman said the decree made the Church’s existing ban on women priests more explicit by clarifying that excommunication would follow all such ordinations. Excommunication forbids those affected from receiving the sacraments or sharing in acts of public worship. Rev. Tom Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, said he thought the decree was meant to send a warning to the growing number of Catholics who favor admitting women to the priesthood.”


Ron Paul grabs 24% of votes in ID primary

Ouch. Even after winning the nomination McCain still can only get 70% of his own party's votes--which is not unlike other state totals. And to have Ron Paul continue to get double-digits is very intriguing.

Paul has best showing yet, in Idaho - 2008 Presidential Campaign Blog - Political Intelligence - Boston.com
John McCain has the Republican nomination wrapped up, but Ron Paul isn't going anywhere.

In fact, in Tuesday's little-noticed Republican primary in Idaho, the iconoclastic Texas congressman had his best showing so far, grabbing 24 percent of the vote, nearly 30,000 votes in all.


Friday, May 30, 2008

Mainstream Media Defensiveness Indicates More of Same Is Likely In Future

Media Matters - "Media Matters"; By Jamison Foser
Does anybody who isn't employed by or related to George Bush still deny that the administration wasn't truthful about Iraq? Or that the news media could have done a better job in the months preceding the war?

This was a rhetorical question in the article, but the answer is "yes", unfortunately. Who are these who think the media did just a fine job of covering the run-up to the war? Well, the media themselves. I watched David Gregory defend himself with disgust on Hardball. Read this article Nieman Watchdog > Commentary > A refresher on how the press failed the people for more examples, but also some examples where the press rightly criticized itself. Given that even many journalists and media outlets have actually admitted some level of failing, it is even more baffling how many still claim that everything was as good as it could have been. This article is also notable in that it has larger excerpts from McClellan's book criticizing the press than have been covered elsewhere.

It is too bad that someone hasn't trotted out the names of the media executives who were quashing critical stories. I'd like to see some of them in the spotlight and hear their response to the charges.

The bottom line of course is that those media correspondents who are being so defensive indicate that they don't think they needed to do anything differently so we'll probably continue to see the same kinds of shoddy journalism and amplification of talking points that overemphasize distortions or lies.
The press amplifies the talking points of one or both parties in its coverage, thereby spreading distortions, half-truths, and occasionally outright lies in an effort to seize the limelight and have something or someone to pick on. And by overemphasizing conflict and controversy and by reducing complex and important issues to convenient, black-and-white story lines and seven-second sound bites the media exacerbate the problem, thereby making it incredibly hard even for well-intentioned leaders to clarify and correct the misunderstandings and oversimplifications that dominate the political conversation.


Exactly. Too bad it had to come so late Scott.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

California marrying same-sex couples...just like gassing the Jews!

Um, yeah. Godwin's law in full effect. Disgraceful!

'Gas the jews' vs. 'Marry the gays': 'SaveCalifornia' get cold feet - Good As You:: Gay and Lesbian Activism With a Sense of Humor

But it is also good to see New York State move to recognize same-sex marriages as well.

How can people compartmentalize so that they don't see how "Separate but Equal" is the same argument as "Civil unions but not "marriage""? "Separate but equal is a set phrase denoting the system of segregation
that justifies giving different groups of people separate facilities or
services with the declaration that the quality of each group's public
facilities remain equal." Hello? If that is illegal and immoral, then why not these laws? It's the same thing and I predict eventually they will either be repealed or ruled unconstitutional. In fact, it violates the Fourteenth Amendment (Equal Protection Clause)


Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 notice divulges the last four of your SSN

I just got my second notice about my pending economic stimulus act rebate and saw to my dismay that it divulges the last 4 of my SSN. They mask out all the least-secret parts but leave the last 4 digits. Lame! Look for this format on the right-hand-side of the letter inside the very conspicuous envelope: XXX-XX-1234

So, be sure to shred these notices!


Monday, May 19, 2008

Debugging nunit tests in Visual Studio Express

One of the annoying things about VS Express (other than it for some reason not saving my user preferences) is that there is not an easy way to debug nunit tests from within the UI. There is also no way to attach to a process to debug, which is going to limit asp.net development utility. Maybe VS 2008 Express is improved in this regard? I'll download and see.

Here are two great ways to debug nunit tests. I opted for the simpler option of creating a .csproj.user file and adding the section to each of the <PropertyGroup&gt; sets like so:
    ...<br />    <StartAction>Program</StartAction><br />    <StartProgram>C:\Program Files\TestDriven.NET 2.0\NUnit\2.4\nunit.exe</StartProgram><br />  </PropertyGroup><br />

Stu's Blog: Debugging NUnit in Visual Studio Express


Sunday, May 18, 2008

Michelle Malkin video draws Mysoginistic feedback on YouTube

I am really getting tired of seeing the male response to crap like this stupid video that Michelle Malkin created involve sexual domination rhetoric against women. It debases the speaker and taints the debate and opponents of Malkin by proxy.

Unbelievable. I think the responses to the video are far, far, far worse than the video.

YouTube - VENT The Defeatocrats' Cheer


Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Video cameras do not increase conviction rates

I'll predict right now that Bruce Schneier will also blog about this.

So, you get much less safety/privacy, waste billions that could have been spent actually doing things that reduce crime, and no real benefit.

UK: CCTV boom has failed to slash crime, say police » Rational Review
“Massive investment in CCTV cameras to prevent crime in the UK has failed to have a significant impact, despite billions of pounds spent on the new technology, a senior police officer piloting a new database has warned. Only 3% of street robberies in London were solved using CCTV images, despite the fact that Britain has more security cameras than any other country in Europe.The warning comes from the head of the Visual Images, Identifications and Detections Office (Viido) at New Scotland Yard as the force launches a series of initiatives to try to boost conviction rates using CCTV evidence” (05/06/08)


Monday, May 5, 2008

Open Letter: flagrant rantings of an anonymous Interneter

I had to turn this into an open letter response. I saw several of these messages being posted to blogs without any response. Most likely because it is so inflammatory and haphazard.

But, it was so tiring that I had to stop part way though. Maybe someone else can post other replies to finish this out...if you can make it that far.

-Jason
-----Inline Message Follows-----

I did not write
this.... But?????????????
Food
For Thought...

We're
not sure anyone really likes any of the choices for President, but


this guy makes some good
points. a few naughty words spoken, but



whoever
this guy is, he seems to be on target.

"We're not sure"? Who is "we". There are a ton
of people who are passionately in support of Barack Obama and I have
seen this first-hand at precinct Caucuses. And there is a similar
fervor among the Hillary supporters.















After long and serious thought, I have decided to endorse Senator


John McCain for President. I
have always voted for the person and have not


voted for anyone because some
political party was telling me who I should


vote for.

So? This type of paragraph in chain emails is one that tries to trick
you into thinking the person is non-partisan when you can tell right
from the tone of the discussion and the lack of facts that this author
is highly partisan. Don't fall for this trick.

We all know the choices by now
and, that said, I do believe that the


process of selecting a chief
executive is deeply flawed. The words "money"


and "special interests" come to
mind, among many others.
Again, so? Are you implying that somehow McCain is not subject to
these same influences when the dems are?
Here's the way I see it:



Barack Obama, you are a
fine public speaker. You are also an


extremely liberal Senator
As if being "liberal" is a bad thing. But, contrary to popular
propaganda, Obama is not the most liberal senator. By the most
objective measure around, he has several colleagues more "liberal" than
he is. Again, not that there is, or should be, anything wrong with
that. See voteview: http://voteview.com/
from the
State of Illinois, which has a long and


rich history of political
corruption of the first magnitude.
You
are indeed


a child of that system.
So, you are implying without saying or providing any EVIDENCE that
Obama is "corrupt"? Hogwash. In fact, Obama has a higher ranking than
Clinton on transparency and ethics:
http://thinkonthesethings.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/barack-obama-vs-hillary-clinton-records-on-transparency-lobbyists-and-ethics/
You
have finally insulted my intelligence far beyond my capacity to


tolerate your insults.

It has nothing at all to do with your skin color.

Does anyone think this makes any sense at all? Does anyone actually
think this is a coherent, logical thought progression? I'm beginning
to think this whole thing is a long string of non-sequiturs (not
surprisingly)
As

a matter of fact, it would be so
COOL to finally have an African-American


for President. What a great
statement that would be to the entire world that


we are indeed the greatest
country on earth!

But, unfortunately,
General Colin Powell is not running, and YOU are

NOT the man for this job !
Where did this come from? Not even a shred of rationale? "If we had a black president, it should be Colin Powell, not Barack"
Barack baby, you want me
to believe that you have never heard the

sermons of your own pastor, the
Right Reverend "God Damn America" Jeremiah


Wright. It is a matter of record
that this has been your church for over 20


years. It is a matter of record
that you were married there by this very


pastor, and that your children
were baptized there.
So what? There is no point here. Barack never said he "never heard the sermons".

The good Reverend saw
fit to visit Khadafy in Libya with you and to


give a lifetime achievement
award to Louis Farrakhan, of all people.
In the words of a good friend of mine, this is "horseshit". The author
is trying to say that Obama went _with Wright_ to visit Farrakhan?
There is no evidence of that. In fact, Wright went with Farrakhan to
visit Kadafy. This author doesn't even have facts, let alone have them
in the right order.
We have all now seen
excerpts of his sermons all over the airwaves

by now. And you have publicly
stated that this man IS your "spiritual


mentor".

I defy you to find a quote of this. The press has referred to him in this way, but Obama has denied this:

"He was never my "spiritual mentor." He was -- he was my pastor. And so
to some extent, how, you know, the -- the press characterized in the
past that relationship, I think, wasn't accurate."
BUT, your pastor is NOT
the reason I am NOT voting for you.
Okay, let me guess. You're not voting for Obama but you're not going
to tell us why. You're just going to continue with more non-sequiturs.
His 

words were disturbing enough,
but it is your own HUGE church congregation,


seen jumping, hooting and
howling to his words in the background that


disturb me the most. And please
don't tell me you attended church there and


never once heard a "discouraging
word" in the 20 years you attended there.


Don't tell me, that in addition
to the good reverend, that you are now not


having anything to do with all
those other people seen hooting and howling


out in the audience in the
background of his fiery tirades.

Oh, it is the congregation! Seriously?! Guilt by association? Surely
Wright has said some strange things but lots of what he has said rings
true. I bet this guy hasn't heard more than a soundbite though.

But what about the kinds of hateful, judgemental, crazy things that white pastors are saying, such as Hagee,

"I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to
God, and they were recipients of the judgment of God for that."
"military confrontation with Iran is foretold in the Bible as a necessary precondition for the Second Coming."

"Hagee, pastor of
the 16,000-member Cornerstone Church, last week had announced a "slave
sale" to raise funds for high school seniors in his church bulletin,
"The Cluster." The item was introduced with the
sentence "Slavery in America
is returning to Cornerstone" and ended with "Make plans to come and
go home with a slave.""


"Do you know the
difference between a woman with PMS and a snarling Doberman pinscher? The
answer is lipstick. Do you know
the difference between a terrorist and a woman with PMS? You can negotiate with
a terrorist."

He is even alleged to have made some very anti-Catholic statements,
although I have yet to see an original in-context quote of Hagee making
these statements. I don't believe Bill Donohoe as a credible quoter,
since I think he's afraid of being out-crazied (Donohoe said,
""Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It's not a secret, OK? And I'm not afraid to say it")

Oh, and yet this anonymous author is fine with McCain who said, ""all I can tell you is that I am very proud to have Pastor John Hagee's support." Hypocrite!
Even Oprah Winfrey got
disgusted and walked out. I am no Oprah fan,

but still she did the right
thing.
I could not find anything about Oprah getting "disgusted" and
"walk[ing] out". She did leave the church due to Wright eventually.
Now YOU look me in the
eye and ask me to believe that you never

heard such language in all the
years you attended there ! This is like me


telling you that I attended
dozens of Klan rallys and never once heard the


"N" word. Yep. And Bill Clinton
"did not inhale".
Just because he heard it, doesn't mean he believes it. And I don't see
any particular quotes you think we should be outraged about. Again, I
don't think you've heard/read more than soundbites.
Yes, Mr. Obama, we all
have friends who have said stupid things that

embarrassed us, but NOW you have
asked me to believe something that is so


incredibly stupid that you are
telling me that I am just stupid enough to


believe you. THAT is the main
reason that I will never vote for you.
But, you'll believe all the stupid crap peddled by McCain? Really?
I am 

deeply sorry, that in a county
teeming with enormously talented African


Americans who would make a good
President, that the political system has


chosen YOU.
You haven't shown any reason why. Just ranted...
You
are a pathetic and plastic excuse for an American, who will

not even salute the Flag during
the Pledge of Allegiance. God forbid you


ever get near the Oval Office.
OMFG! This guy is pulling out all the stops! This is such a load of
propagandic BS that has been totally debunked. Obama is a model of the
American dream, building himself up from adversity. The author here is
an idiot.
Now, did I mention Bill
Clinton ?

AH YES ! This brings us
to MRS. WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, who this


candidate really is, in spite of
all the other names she may care to call


herself.
What? Does that make sense to anyone?
This "feminist" piece
of work of course would like to be referred

to as MS. and we all know who
wears the pant suit in that family.
Oh, so now she's a feminist (in quotes, whatever that means)? Any
empowered woman is a feminist? What evidence/rationale? Oh yeah,
there isn't any provided. Moving along...
MS. Clinton, (sugar), it
is just as depressing to realize that there

are dozens of women who would
also make great Presidents. But, fortunately,


the horrible state of the
selection process has selected YOU.
What is this guy talking about? I'm no big Hillary fan but this is just stupid.
Ms.
Clinton,

I'm sorry, but you could not
tell the truth if we waterboarded your


worthless ass !
You might have something there about her not being forthright, although
bringing in the "waterboarding" aka "water torture" is a nice
right-wing touch, don't you think?
Still you play the role
of the "embarrassed but dignified noble

wife".
Why all the quotes? What are you trying to say with this statement?
What utter malarky !
On what basis? Oh yeah, he doesn't need to give one.
I am
not voting for you for a world of reasons,


but the main one is the same as
my not voting for Senator Obama.
You still have not made a coherent argument describing what this position is and further, how McCain does not.
You

persistently insult my
intelligence.
Well, judging by this insane rant, it should be insulted.
It COULD be conceivably possible that

you did not know about Monica
Lewinsky, extremely remote, but possible if we


stretch our imaginations a bit.
But you turn around and then ask me to


believe that you also did not
know about Paula Jones and the legion of other


women who were chewed up and
spit out by your lecherous excuse for a


husband. Puleese turn off this
broken record !!!
What is the broken record? Bill Clinton? So, your point is that her
husband was a bastard and you are going to presume that you know what
she did/did not know (there is no evidence provided where she claims to
not have known nor that she has "ask[ed] [you] to believe" this).
Plus, I don't believe that Paula Jones was proven.
But let's set aside your
hubby's flagrant pecadillos.
Yes, let's not impugn her by criticizing someone who is not her, Bill Clinton. Moving along...
The real

reason I will never vote for you
is that I don't think the country can


survive EIGHT MORE YEARS of
Whitewater, Travelgate, Filegate, Sandy Berger


stuffing his socks with
classified intelligence, Janet Reno's goon squad,


and the myriad other corruptions
that seem to stick to you like your ugly


face.
There wasn't any there-there with those "scandals". Who do you think
was responsible for the flood of false accusations? And, again,
nothing about Hillary specifically mentioned. Don't you find that odd?
So our former President
can't keep his dick in his pants. The REAL


issue is that he committed
perjury under oath when he lied about it and the


pathetically-attempted cover-up
that followed.
I guess the author couldn't "keep [it] in his pants" long enough to
avoid going back to impugning Hillary by criticizing Bill. Not even a
whole paragraph could he wait!
Like you, he is totally
incapable of telling the truth. He could not


do it if you tortured him, and
in voting for you, we would get the BOTH of


you, all over again.
Enough with the Bill talk. What about Hillary!?
The same
folks who could have taken out Osama Bin Laden


over 3,000 dead Americans ago !
OMFG! I'll refer you to the PDB that Bush and company IGNORED
entitled, "Bin Laden Determined To Strike in US". BUSH did NOTHING
about Bin Laden or Al Quaeda. Clinton, and Richard Clarke, were doing
something about it. See anything about what Richard Clarke has said.
And please stop telling
me that you have "8 years of experience" to


lead us. You were the freakin'
first lady already, not the Commander in


Chief. Jeez ! The sum of your
"experience" is that of the most worrisome and


incompetent meddling in the
history of the White House.
There is some truth to the first part, but the last part is just ad-hominem. Where is the evidence?
You even cursed your

pitiful staff and the Secret
Service agents who were and still are


unfortunately charged with
risking their lives to protect your worthless,


thieving hide, and all at the
expense of other people who have to work for a


living.
When did she do this? I find no evidence of this. I can't take anymore of this. Over &amp; out.
Your single pathetic
platform is to finance the illegal drugs,


alcoholism and bad habits of the
very lowest and most irresponsible


freeloaders in America and to
then "garnish the wages" (your own words) of


every law-abiding and
hard-working American to pay for it. This disaster you


refer to as "Universal Health
Care". Where have you been the last 30 years ?


Did you not see
that socialism is a failure wherever it has been tried ?
Did

you not notice that the Soviet
Union has collapsed since it gave no reward


to those who worked the hardest
for the fruits of their own labors to pay


for those who will not ??



It is interesting to see
all the dead bodies that you and your hubby


have left in your wake.
Suicides, mysterious deaths, cover-ups that make


Richard Nixon look like a rank
amateur. The utter contempt and unbelievable


arrogance of some of your
strongest supporters, most notably the recently


resigned and disgraced Governor
Eliot Spitzer, the epitome of hypocritical


and malevolent arrogance gone
wild, one of your most ardent, wealthy and


powerful political supporters. A
man the news media refuses to admit IS a


"super delegate" in your own
political machine, a fine example of your own


"adopted" state of New York.
No wonder you moved there to run for Senator !


The environment there is perfect
for the likes of you !




Yes, I would vote for a
woman, but I will NOT vote for YOU !




Which leaves us with
Senator John McCain.




John, you are a flawed
man. You are a bit old, a bit looney, and you


have a notoriously bad temper.
This perfectly qualifies you, in my humble


opinion, to lead us for the next
eight years. I WANT your trembling hand on


the nuclear button.



Think about it.



We have Kim Jong IL, Chavez and
Ahmadenijad all running around like


lunatics, threatening America
and threatening to plunge the world into


nuclear Armageddon. We have
Putin and the Chinese blustering and rattling


their sabres at us. I want John
McCain in the Oval Office and I want him to


be really pissed off at all
these other nut jobs around the planet.




John, once you are elected, I
want you to go into the Oval Office and throw


one of your perfect FITS. Jump
up and down and throw something through a


plate glass window. Rip the
drapes down and foam at the mouth a bit. And I


want the whole thing on camera
so that Ahmadinejad can see it. I want ALL of


these "world leaders" to lay
awake at night and to break out in a cold sweat


every time they think of messing
with the United States of America.