April 2009 Archives

My glasses broke today at work while I cleaned them. I went to the local optical stores to see if they could be temporarily soldered, but alas, they were titanium frames. I tried to super glue them, but again; foiled by the titanium frames. So, I had to schedule an eye exam, which I managed to get this afternoon at 1:00 PM! At 1:30 PM I was fitted with new contact lenses.

All I can say is:

OH. MY. FUCKING. GOD! I did not realize how bad my eyes had gotten. Granted, the old lenses were from over 7 years ago. But still. Now I can actually see without irritation. And my right eyeball no longer feels funky, like it's bigger than the left eyeball. However, my new contacts will require that I use reading glasses for up close work. Being near-sighted, and developing astigmatism, I should consider myself lucky I can see at all.

Quick, someone entertain me.

Honest to happy horseshit. I thought my life was complete. I blog, I twitter (though it's really fucking boring) and I pick on The GirlFriend™. What more is there to ask for.

Well, kick my ass, I discovered Carrie Fisher has a blog. All these years of blissful ignorance as to the totality of my life's completelessness exposed in one fell swoop by Lab Kat. You know the hammer is less painful.

Well, actually, it's just another release of information about torture. This time, pictures from the Department of Defense.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Defense Department will release "a substantial number" of photographs showing abuse of prisoners at prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

I knew, just knew, that someone at Comedy Central was going to have a say about Shepard Smith's outburst.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Shepard Smith Swears
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Gay Marriage Commercial

Seriously, watching this Colbert segment makes Hannity appear to have the emotional maturity of a 14 year old.

Just because I can, here it is embedded.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Sean Hannity Loves America
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Gay Marriage Commercial

I mean, really; WOW!



Ever since Katrina, Shepard Smith has been showing himself to be less and less interested in following the daily talking points handed down from Roger Ailes. No doubt he simply had enough of the pretend debate about torture.

Whether it's effective or not, torture is wrong, and the United States is not to engage in it's use.

Hat Tip: ASZ

Not!

Okay, so you believe that the "harsh interrogation methods" are legal. You have people in the Justice Department create memos to support your belief. What reason, then, is necessary for you to destroy memos challenging your belief that "harsh interrogation methods" are legal? Unless, of course, you really do know the "harsh interrogation methods" are illegal.

It's going to happen. A Special Prosecutor will be named.

Rule of Law, Bitches!

They are the only blog rolling team in town. There are no plugins for Movable Type that easily handles a blogroll. Actually, there are no plugins at all. There are no other internet link managing services equivalent to BlogRolling. So, it really, really sucks that BlogRolling is not living up to it's past performance. For several months it was down while recovering from a DOS attack and then while redesigning their site. Now that the redesign is completed (for the most part) it is slower than dial up from 1998.

Sigh. I really don't want a better mouse trap. I just want one that works.

At some point the Obama administration is going to have to move on the corruption of it's predecessor. Whether or not it's politically expedient is going to be a mute point soon. After the revelation about Rep. Jane Harman, Alberto Gonzalez, and AICAP, it's going to become harder and harder to prevent investigations. And not just of congress members. Eventually they are going to be faced with investigating the torture of terrorist suspects.

At the moment, the lack of courage currently displayed by the Obama administration in regards to past corruption is dwarfed by the past cowardice of the Bush administration. But the country has turned. It's starting to realize what has occurred in their name under the Bush and in the next 6 to 10 months there is going to be more of a cry for accountability. More of the same will simply not be tolerated.

As to the specifics of the Harman revelations, Glenn Greenwald does his usual crack job of pointing out the facts.

Because I'll be damned if I'm going to follow the crowd and cat blog on Friday.

I can not play live chess today. I've tried. I've been beaten by players with 800 ratings. I am better than that. Yet, today, not so much.

On an unrelated personal note: feeling better today then I have in several days. My cold, which has been kicking my ass, has receded today. Good thing too, because I've got to take the Fuskers™ to Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America. Hereto forth it shall be known as NicVerse.

In case anyone is behind the times, NicVerse was once called Camp Snoopy. You know, things change.

From working in a residential setting, I learned quickly that those who were thieves in the past tended to be the ones that complained about there being thieves in the residence. On several occasions, they turned out to actually be the thieves. Hence, my total lack of surprise at the shrill response of the Right Wing Noise Machine.

I also think it's especially ironic that the loudest of shrill networks would actually produce a level-headed piece pointing out the over-reaction of the Right Wing Noise Machine.

I swear, Shepard Smith is trying to get himself fired from Fox.

Kate Smith ain't got nothing on Susan Boyle.

No comment is needed. Well, other than a hat tip to John.

When I was reading the many posts and articles about the court decision stating Al Franken won the senate election last year, one thought went through my mind; Governor Pawlenty will not certify the election as the law stipulates.

Now, imagine my surprise when I came across this t-shirt at DownWithTyranny!

Mind know, it's not definite that Coleman will file an appeal with the Minnesota State Supreme Court. He hasn't as of this posting. However, should the court refuse to hear the appeal, it's time for the Governor to certify the election. Should he refuse, than he no longer has the best interest of Minnesota citizens in mind; he is thinking only of his position in the Republican party and a run for president.

If that is the case, then hell yes! it's time for a recall.

If you want proof that the extreme social conservatives are complete idiots, go read this post over at All Spin Zone.

OK, this one shouldn't be surprising. We know, for instance, that the whack jobs on the social conservative extremist end of the GOP spectrum are a bit on the dim side and don't play all that well on the internet. Well, it was last Wednesday that the National Organization for Marriage launched their 2M4M campaign, not understanding that "M4M" is a standard abbreviation in personals for "man looking for man." In other words, their cute slogan reads like a solicitation for group gay sex. Hey, even Rachel Maddow has made fun of it. Today we find that the National Organization for Marriage was so stupid as to not buy up the domain names for their new initiative.

Wait for the punch line.......

www.2m4m.org is now a place of inclusion that stands for civil rights.

Teh stup, it burnzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Editor's note; typing errors from the original site corrected.

I don't care what others might think; that this manager is one lone person and not an indictment of the corporation for whom he works - shit runs down hill:

Star Tribune

MADISON, Wis. -- A Dean Health System nurse was called out of surgery so a manager could tell her she was being laid off.

Dean Health said the surgery was minor and the patient wasn't affected, but the manager who summoned the nurse from surgery violated medical protocol.

If there is one action that defines the residual effects of the Bush Era, this is it.

In health care, you always keep the interest of the patient foremost in your mind. That this manager believed it was perfectly okay to pull a nurse from surgery speaks volumes to the attitude and mindset of the corporate structure at the Dean Health System. Obviously the bottom line is much more important than the health of their patients.

If Dean Health Systems wants their reputation restored, they best fire the manager. After reading this simple article, Lord knows I'd not want to find myself under their care.

Does stealing it from someone who stole it count as bad?

Oh, Rook want!

Go here for more information.

The Great George W. Bush Doctrine continues at a pace.

Friday Blogaround
Happy Passover, Happy Easter, Happy spring break, happy first week of April.... Here's the busy week as seen by the LC.

- A Blog Around The Clock: The AP is obsolete.
- All Facts and Opinions: too much political correctness.
- archy: Michele Bachmann parses herself.
- Bark Bark Woof Woof: Basic accounting.
- Bloggg: Getting with the program.
- Collective Sigh: andante is back and brings us up to date.
- Dohiyi Mir: NTodd remembers his Sam.
- Echidne Of The Snakes: chimpanzees and their sex lives.
- Florida Progressive Coalition Blog: Sustainability.
- Iddybud Journal: for a friend.
- Left Is Right: bits and pieces.
- Left Turn Only: Misrepresentation.
- Musing's musings bails on NPR.
- Pen-Elayne on the Web: leave Limbaugh alone!
- Rook's Rant is on North Korea's missile launch.
- rubber hose: putting iran in perspective.
- Scrutiny Hooligans: the lazy environmentalist.
- Speedkill: picking apart NOM.
- Steve Bates, The Yellow Doggerel Democrat: footloose?
- Stupid Enough Unexplanation: Conservatives write their own parody.
- The Invisible Library: Dubai -- the living hell of unbridled capitalism.
- WTF Is It Now?? Ted Nugent compares the Holocaust to the Alamo.
- ...You Are A Tree: checking in.

Here's hoping you found the matzoh, or you find the Easter Eggs, or your team won on Opening Day, or your guy wins at the Masters.

All things considered, I'd best keep my mouth shut, since I am in a very, very foul mood.

A low census means a low level of paperwork. That allows for more down time. Normally, I'd read some book to shore up my understanding about Health Realization. But it's just too damn beautiful outside to sit in an office and read. So, instead, I've decided to sit in a coffee shop and blog. Of course, I walked to the coffee shop. I mean, duh! I'm not going to drive the two block distance to this particular cafe.

I've perused most of my favorite blogs and have not learned anything new since this morning. Mostly, it's a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing but the usual impatience with change. Slow change is the one trait we humans of the 21st Century share with Tolkien's hobbits.

On a more personal level, I have to say I finished up the most delicious banana bread I've ever had the honor to consume. Mostly because it contained chocolate chips. Mmmmmmm, chocolate chips.

Well, I suppose I best get my butt back to work. I've got a group to run tonight.

Normally, I am not one to jump to any conclusions in regards to a person's, or nation's, intentions. However, considering that North Korea's rocket flew directly over Japan and supposedly failed to place it's payload into orbit, I'd be willing to go out on a limb and say they just signaled to the rest of the world they are now a nuclear power.

Do they have enough to go toe to toe with us, or any other country with a left over cold war arsenal? Probably not. In fact, I'd go so far as to say North Korea has assured it's own destruction. If they lob one of their inferior bombs at, say, Pakistan or India, good bye North Korea.

Now, if they pointed one of those bombs at the US, hell we wouldn't even need to use any nuclear weapons in retaliation. A good week of carpet bombing with conventional weapons would be just as effective as a few lobbed nucs. The North Korean government and military is posing, images of grandeur populating their collective imagination in compensation for their lack of true might and completely ignorant of their inability to stand up to the big boys at the moment.

However, that does not mean they will remain impotent. Having possibly developed nuclear weapon capability, and obviously having developed the very real capability of transporting a nuclear weapon, we are going to have to deal with North Korea quickly.

I could go on at this point about the failure of the last administration in preventing North Korea from developing nuclear capability, but that will not change the facts now in place. North Korea has shown itself capable of inflicting severe damage to it's neighbors and disrupting an already unstable global state of affairs. Regardless of how North Korea managed to achieve nuclear weapons capability, we now have to address the issues.

Even more frightening is the real possibility of North Korea setting off World War III. With North Korea stands China. Whether we like it or not, China will have much to say in the manner of how North Korea is dealt. We mishandle China - look out.

The United States once managed to put into place a framework to keep North Korea sedate. Then, with our collective heads shoved up our collective asses, we placed George W. Bush into the Oval Office - twice! We now are facing the real consequences of that insanity. I hope to God we've managed to place a man in the Oval Office capable of rectifying this mess left for him; and us.

What has become more and more frustrating over the years is the sudden appearance of terms that describe what previously (at least in my memory) was an illegal action. The latest term to come to my attention: off-the-book assets. Now, granted, I've never taken an accounting or economics class in my life. In fact, to take this moment of self-disclosure farther, I've learned all I know about accounting and economics from TV and movies. So, with that said, it seems off-the-book assets is just another way of describing two sets of books.

Now, maybe I am wrong, but I always thought having two sets of books was an indication of either hiding ill-gotten gain, or avoiding taxes, or both. Yet, it's sudden appearance here suggests a perfectly legitimate practice. At least, the manner of it's presentation in the story implies a perfectly acceptable, legal accounting practice.

If so, can I do the same with my past mortgage bills? I mean, had I been able to apply a little off-the-books asset, perhaps I could have avoided foreclosure completely. Spacious reasoning? Yeah, probably. But it seems to be the technique de jour of late.

I guess, when it comes right down to it, with off-the-books assets, I smell bovine excrement. Or possibly equine excrement. No, wait. suidae excrement.

Hummmmmmm. I have to think on this a bit. Which of the three best describes the stench that is emanating from Wall Street?

Hey ladies. Your man got ED? Well, Tild has just the thing for him.

Friday Blogaround

Spring break is here! Yeah, I know, it snowed up in the Dakotas this week and Fargo escaped major flooding by this much... But anyway, here's what this week looked like to the faithful at the LC.

- A Blog Around The Clock: Harold Varmus is everywhere.
- All Facts and Opinions: GOP in Alaska wants a new Senate election.
- archy: volcano monitoring.
- Bark Bark Woof Woof: right-wing theatre.
- Bloggg: I O Bloggg.
- Dohiyi Mir: NTodd writes letters in support of marriage equality.
- Echidne Of The Snakes: just first ladies?
- Florida Progressive Coalition Blog: Florida congressman under attack.
- Left Is Right: bits and pieces.
- Left Turn Only: not an April Fool's joke.
- Pen-Elayne on the Web: pwning the "Freecreditreport.com" insanity.
- Rook's Rant: global depression.
- rubber hose: noz celebrates reviews Jury Duty at the philly film fest; lots to more to see.
- Scrutiny Hooligans: cleaner and greener, please.
- Speedkill: no clue.
- Steve Bates, The Yellow Doggerel Democrat: veggie binging.
- Stupid Enough Unexplanation: Is what you see what is?
- The Invisible Library: Spider-Man as a musical?
- WTF Is It Now?? He's popular.

Ah, spring....

Spring break is here???? Seriously, it's come and gone like two weeks ago up here in the sodden north.

Ted Stevens' case was the first to be dealt with because it prevents any cries of partisanship when Holden moves to deal with the cases of politically motivated prosecutions on the part of the Bush Justice Department.

I just can't see myself at work today.

Yes, I have to put food on the table.

Yes, I have to pay the bills.

Yes, I know I have to go to work.

Buy my eyes just don't want to cooperate.

Okay, let me set the record straight: I don't do April First here at the Rant. I know there is this long established custom of pulling practical jokes and that writing mock posts are all the craz on this date. Not here. Not in this Castle. Sorry, but I am a believer in serious, rational, level-headed, adult discussion on the topics, issues, and conflicts of the day. I always have been, and always will be, a serious blogger. No joking around for this key thumper. So, if you've come looking for a crank post making fun of fellow bloggers, or ridiculing Republicans, or even Democrats, I'm sorry to have to disappoint.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a hot cup of coffee with cream and sugar waiting for me.