Y’all are on your own. I’ve got friends in town from DC, so have a good one.
*** Update ***
Finally broke down and bought an Xbox 360. I will be shooting people the rest of the evening.
This post is in: Open Threads
Y’all are on your own. I’ve got friends in town from DC, so have a good one.
*** Update ***
Finally broke down and bought an Xbox 360. I will be shooting people the rest of the evening.
by John Cole| 57 Comments
This post is in: Teabagger Stupidity
Seventeen years after she attended the school and two weeks before her Republican primary against Rep. Mike Castle, Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell officially earned her college degree, according to an official from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Scott Giglio, assistant director of public relations at the Madison, N.J., university, told POLITICO the Tea Party Express-backed Senate hopeful was officially awarded her bachelor of arts degree in English literature on Wednesday.
Tortoise and the hare, I guess.
But wouldn’t not having a college degree be a badge of honor for teabag nation? Graduating might lose her some votes, the ivory tower elitist.
by DougJ| 31 Comments
This post is in: Science & Technology
When politics becomes a saddening bore, the idea of life on other planets cheers me up:
A new look at data from the Mars Viking landers concludes that the two landers may have found the building blocks of life on the Red Planet after all way back in 1976. The surprise discovery of perchlorates by the Phoenix mission on Mars 32 years later could means the way the Viking experiment was set up actually would have destroyed any carbon-based chemical building blocks of life – what the experiment set about to try and find.
“This doesn’t say anything about the question of whether or not life has existed on Mars, but it could make a big difference in how we look for evidence to answer that question,” said Chris McKay of NASA’s Ames Research Center. McKay coauthored a study published online by the Journal of Geophysical Research – Planets, reanalyzing results of Viking’s tests for organic chemicals in Martian soil.
The Viking lander scooped up some soil, put it in a tiny oven and heated the sample. The only organic chemicals identified in the Martian soil from that experiment chloromethane and dichloromethane — chlorine compounds interpreted at the time as likely contaminants from cleaning fluids used on the spacecraft before it left Earth. But those chemicals are exactly what the new study found when a little perchlorate — the surprise finding from Phoenix — was added to desert soil from Chile containing organics and analyzed in the manner of the Viking tests.
by John Cole| 21 Comments
This post is in: Humorous, Fucked-up-edness
by DougJ| 88 Comments
This post is in: Free Markets Solve Everything, Going Galt
I’m not very comfortable talking about policy because I know enough to know that I wouldn’t really know what I’m talking about. Further, I don’t want to turn this into another episode of Paul Krugman is right, everyone else sucks. But can someone answer these questions for me:
1. The Village/Republican critique of stimulus spending is “oh noes, the national debt”. Is there any legitimate reason why these proposed tax cuts do not provoke a similar reaction?
2. The reason why “oh noes, the national debt” supposedly makes sense is that an increasing debt may prompt the bond vigilantes to up the interest on T-bills. Krugman points out “The 10-year bond rate was over 3.7 percent when The Journal published that editorial; it’s under 2.7 percent now.” I understand that excessive national debt is problematic, don’t get me wrong, so that’s not what I’m asking. What am I asking is: is there any evidence that US debt will be hit by these bond vigilantes? If so, what are they waiting for?
Update. And one final question, a bit darker: is the Obama administration so deeply in the grips of irrational Village economic “ideas” that we are all fucked?
This post is in: Assholes, Bring on the Brawndo!, General Stupidity, Get off my grass you damned kids
Just got back from getting my haircut. I go to a barbershop where it is mostly old-timers, and I’m not exaggerating when I state that I am routinely the only person this side of 70 in the waiting room, and it goes without saying they are all white. There was a long line today of about 5 men, so I got to hear all sorts of things about the country I did not know.
One gentleman went on an extended rant about the economy and the country. Did you know that “If Obama had his way we would all be on welfare, and who knows who would pay for it when that happens? This country is just getting worse and worse every day. Things are so lopsided now with Obama taking over everything.” And on and on and on he went, and I just sat there and bit my lip.
Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore, and when he said “You can’t even pray anymore. Christians get stopped from praying, but Muslims get to pray,” I lost it.
“When was the last time someone stopped you from praying,” I asked.
He seemed startled- “Me, never. But they…”
I cut him off- “And when was the last time anyone stopped anyone you know from praying?”
“Well, I don’t personally know of anyone…”
“So who exactly is stopping people from praying?”
And then he went on a rant about saying the Declaration of Independence at the Jefferson “monument.” I just rolled my eyes and kept to myself.
I made a vow, though. In the interest of politeness, I’ve ignored this stuff in public before. I figure I will do my ranting online. But not any more. Any time I am confronted with this nonsense in the future, I am aggressively and publicly challenging these idiots. I can’t take it any more. The damage Rupert Murdoch and those like him have done to this country needs to be countered.
by Kay| 85 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics, Assholes, Blatant Liars and the Lies They Tell, Wingnut Event Horizon
the United States has attempted to secure Defendants’ voluntary cooperation with the United States’ investigation of alleged national origin discrimination in Defendants’ police practices and jail operations.
Despite notice of their obligation to comply in full with the United States’ requests for information, Defendants have refused to do so.
Defendants’ refusal to cooperate with reasonable requests for information regarding the use of federal funds is a violation of Defendants’ statutory, regulatory, and contractual obligations.
The complaint goes on, and lists an almost weekly refusal by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) which included this:
On July 7, 2009, Defendant Arpaio held a press conference and announced publicly that MCSO would not cooperate with the United States’ investigation, either by providing documents or permitting interviews with personnel.
Now, this is still America, and Sheriff Arpaio operates within a county and a state, so I would assume there would eventually be an order from that county or state to comply, and there was:
In a letter dated August 5, 2010, MCSO refused to cooperate in full with DOJ’s investigation of both MCSO police practices and jail operations.
On August 12, 2010, Maricopa County acknowledged the obligation of federal fund recipients to cooperate with DOJ investigations, and directed MCSO to fully cooperate in any DOJ Title VI inquiry.
MCSO responded to Maricopa County the next day and refused to comply with Maricopa County’s instruction.
Maricopa County has been unable to compel MCSO to produce all of the requested documents, and is unable to secure access to MCSO’s facilities and staff.
The county has been “unable to secure access to MCSO’s facilities and staff”.
Here’s the sheriff’s website. Sheriff Joe holds guided tours of his jail facilities.
Sheriff Arpaio has added a few improvements at the Tents Jail, including two Sky Watch Towers for security, stun fences around the perimeter, and facial recognition computer software for inmate identification. K-9 units and patrol deputies have been added for additional security. The Classification Unit conducts background checks on inmates before they are housed in the tents, so that dangerous or predatory individuals are not placed there.
Scheduling tours: Group tours of the internationally famous Tents Jail can be scheduled in advance by calling: 602-876-5551
. Adults only (ages 18 and over)
. Tours will be conducted by Tents jail staff
. Group size: up to 20 adults
. Time and date availability to be determined by Tents Jail Administration
. Dress standards apply. (Business casual is appropriate.)
He won’t allow the county to secure DOJ access, but he’ll allow “tours” as long as Tents Jail Administration control when you’re in there and what you see and you’re wearing business casual.