Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Ah, the different things are different argument.

This fight is for everything.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. don’t touch it.”

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Please don’t feed the bears.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

I am pretty sure Katy Tur wasn’t always such a bootlicking sycophant.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

You are here: Home / 2003 / Archives for June 2003

Archives for June 2003

Port Security

by | Leave a Comment

This post is in: 

Sounds like a good plan:

The Bush administration has decided to place teams of American inspectors at major seaports in Muslim nations and other smaller, strategically located foreign ports to prevent terrorists from using cargo containers to smuggle chemical, biological or nuclear weapons into the United States, senior administration officials said.

The inspectors, they said, will be provided with radiation monitors, chemical detectors and other equipment to inspect “high risk” metal cargo containers before they are placed on ships bound for the United States.

Port security should not be a partisan issue, but the Democrats have tried. At any rate, this is a good start, and it should be applauded. By the way- it should be recognized that no matter what steps we take, I am convinced there will be another attack on the United States- we are just too big to defend everything. Regardless, we are making progress and learning as we go. Security is not an overnight goal- it is something we will have to work on for years.

Port SecurityPost + Comments

More Of This Please

by | 4 Comments

This post is in: 

On Tuesday we had this:

Sam Waksal, the ex-CEO of ImClone Systems who admitted to insider trading allegations, was sentenced to seven years in prison Tuesday.

Judge William Pauley also ordered Waksal to pay $3 million in fines and $1.26 million in restitution. He is the first CEO to be sentenced in the wake of numerous high-profile corporate scandals.

Today, we have this:

Three former Dynegy Inc. executives were charged in a federal indictment unsealed Thursday with conspiracy and fraud for their roles in accounting transactions that regulators say improperly boosted the energy company’s cash flow and lowered its taxes.

In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit agsinst the three people.

“These defendants are accused of withholding the truth about Dynegy’s true fiscal condition from the SEC, shareholders and the public,” U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby said.

Named in the indictment were Jamie Olis, 37, Dynegy’s former senior director of tax planning; Gene Shannon Foster, 44, former vice president of tax; and Helen Christine Sharkey, 31, a former member of Dynegy’s risk control and deal structure group.

We need a lot more of this, and the only thing that is going to keep these people straight is the fear of long stays in the Big House if they get caught.

Of course, if I were hyper-partisan like the increasingly strident Yglesias, Marshall, Barlow, and the rest of the liberal bloggers, I would have to point out that a couple more indictments and stiff prison sentences, and we may finally end the culture of corporate fraud and greed that set in during the Clinton years.

More Of This PleasePost + Comments (4)

I am back..

by | 11 Comments

This post is in: 

The trip to Dallas and back went off without a hitch. No accidents, no tickets (1 warning), and no missed flights on the way home. All is well.

A few quick notes-

– ATTENTION ALL SOUTHERN FOLK- Ford, Chrysler, and Chevrolet all sell something other than monster trucks and SUV’s. They are called cars. You might think they are kinda interesting- they even fit 4 whole people- they have this thing called a back seat- sorta like a bigger version of an extended cab, if you will. I know some of your women were a touch on the hefty size- but other than your dates, I didn’t see you hauling anything to justify the 9 million Dodge Power Ram 950000 monster trucks I saw on the road.

– The life expectancy of a Tennessee State Trooper has to be shorter than that of a D-Day infantryman at Omaha beach. All of I-40 west is named in memory of a trooper- which could explain why there were none on the road issuing tickets. I drove 85 miles an hour the whole way from Nashville to Memphis, and people were passing me like I was going 40. Amazing- so much for the ‘law and order’ South.

– I learned that in the south, the four food groups are barbecued, deep-fried, breaded, and dessert.

– I stopped in Hope, Arkansas, birthplace of the Big Me, aka Billy Jeff. If Arkansas is their vision for the whole country, the Clintons must be defeated at all costs. There was a spectacular hole in the wall BBQ joint there (The Smokehouse?), and I had the best pulled pork sandwich I have ever had.

– Dallas leads the nation in middle-aged bottle blondes with boob jobs.

– If everyone in the South would drive slower and talk FASTER, they would find their life to be much more fulfilling (one theory of mine was that they drive like hell to make up for all the lost time spent speaking at such a slow rate of speed).

– The South is hot. Damned hot.

I am back..Post + Comments (11)

Wonderful

by | 7 Comments

This post is in: 

I believe that the way our current system is set up, very few come out out of prison a better person. Via TalkLeft, we find Gray Davis’s latest attempt to make this worse:

The state’s financially strapped corrections department is prohibiting inmates from leaving their cells at three prisons in an attempt to reduce overtime pay for guards and is considering further cost-saving restrictions at most of the system’s 32 institutions, according to the chairwoman of the state Senate committee that oversees prisons.

Fabulous. Folks, unless someone is on Death Row or in jail for life with no chance of parole, these people WILL be released from jail. And in most cases, they will still be unskilled, uneducated, and perhaps carrying Hepatitis B, HIV, or both. The only skills training they will have received are PhD’s in hard crime, an education provided free of charge from their fellow inmates. Add to this to the well known destabilizing effects of sensory deprivation caused by longterm solitary cofinement, and we are ACTIVELY experimenting in the creation of a breed of supercriminals- supercriminals who will be one day back on the street, living down the street from you, and more than likely, responsible for the majority of the violent crimes happening in your town or neighborhood.

It is not being soft on crime to recognize that this is a recipe for disaster. You are not a flaming liberal for not wanting to have these monsters released from prison in a worse condition than when they entered (and we did put them away for a reason, didn’t we?) You are not a bleeding heart commie for wanting prisoners to receive education, skills training, and rehabilitation. What you are is someone with an IQ higher than a pool of tepid water.

Oh hell. Go read this. This is sort of related.

WonderfulPost + Comments (7)

Travelling Next Week

by | 3 Comments

This post is in: 

I will be travelling next week, leaving here Monday morning and driving to Memphis, where I will stay the night, and then driving on to Dallas. I figure two days of driving time, and then I fly home on Wednesday. If there is anyone in the area who would like to meet, send me an email.

BTW- I am not on business, but helping an old friend move. He left today with a moving van and one car in tow, and his wife is pregnant, so I volunteered to take the other car down for him.

Travelling Next WeekPost + Comments (3)

The Real Question

by | 15 Comments

This post is in: 

I am sure this will be spun as more evidence of an anti-homosexual agenda, but something is bothering me about this:

The Justice Department has barred a group of employees from holding their annual gay pride event at the department’s headquarters, the first time such an event has been blocked by any federal agency, gay rights leaders said today.

Justice Department officials told the group, called DOJ Pride, that it could not hold its annual event at the department because the White House had not formally recognized Gay Pride Month with a presidential proclamation, Marina Colby, a department policy analyst who is president of the group, said. The group represents several hundred gay and lesbian employees at the department.

“This sends a real chilling message to Justice Department employees who are gay and lesbian,” said David Smith, a spokesman for Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest gay advocacy group.

“This says, `You’re not welcome,’ ” Mr. Smith said. “It says that employees can celebrate Asian-American heritage month, and Hispanic heritage month and so on, but you cannot.”

Why the hell are government assets being used for ANY of these celebrations? And if they are going to let there be Asian-American Heritage month, I agree with DOJ Pride, let them have Gay Pride month. But here is a better suggestion- GET RID OF ALL OF THEM and get back to work.

The Real QuestionPost + Comments (15)