Happy Friggin' New Years, Y'All!

I never managed to get around to doing my Top Ten Most Annoying Things of 2005 post, so in its stead, I'll simply link to some boingboing goodness about the ongoing Lazy Sunday/Chronic-WHAT-cles of Narnia rage.

Happy NY everyone, and here's to hoping politics will get less stupid in 2006 and allow me to blog about something else!

Talk to you in twenty-o-six.

w00t!

New Blog - Is Randy Smoking?

For those of you who know and care, I have now created a blog to allow everyone to find out, in almost real-time, whether Randy is currently smoking or quitting. Check out: Is Randy Smoking?

Given the historical background, that one might get posted to more often than exitramp.

Sorvinos in Scranton (okay, Clarks Summit)

Last night, while out at Amore for this blogger's birthday celebration, we were all pretty certain at one point that Paul Sorvino was sitting across the bar from us. Mira Sorvino appeared to be there as well.

Turns out, that Mira was sworn in as an honorary deputy Lackawanna County Sheriff earlier in the day.

Heh, indeedy.

Radiohead US Tour Next Summer, bizn1tchez!

You stop reading an infrequently-updated blog for a few months, and you miss all the good stuff.

From ateaseweb, Ed O'Brien confirmed on a Radio 1 interview last week that Radiohead will "definitely" be touring next year, with a US leg likely in the summer.

Huttah! I'm setting up email alerts from ticketmaster and WASTE, people!

Technorati tag: radiohead

Why the h3ll is Joan giving out my number?

Dammit! In the space of an hour tonight, I've gotten two calls on my house phone for Joan and John. Actually, the second caller seemed to think I was Joan, so I have to feel a little sorry for John.

Now, I've had this phone number for over a year, so it cannot be the case that Joan and John just moved and are still giving out their old number. Also, the callers sounded pretty familiar with J&J, so I also can't assume that they haven't talked in a while and are just trying to get back in touch.

Thus, I can only assume that Joanie and Johnnie have recently gotten a number which is very similar to mine, and are giving mine out by accident. And I can only assume that I can look forward to fielding calls for Joan for some time until we get this crap straightened out. Yay!

Actually, methinks it's easier to turn the damned ringer back off and let the Jerkys straighten it out by themselves.

Winter Solstice - The Reason for the Season

From here on in, the days only get longer, people.

Enjoy!

...And a Joyous Winter Solstice to all!

Harpers: Clinton at the UN

In the January issue of Harper's, (website is yet to be updated) Parag Khanna pens an interesting article. (Yes, I sponsor NPR and subscribe to Harper's. I'm that liberal)

He laments the current ineffectual state of the United Nations. ("The United Nations is the only organization that holds annual meetings to commemorate its failures.") He apparently worked as an intern at the U.N. at the age of 17, and is now a Fellow at the Brookings Institution. The first half of the article is spent discussing the fact that the U.N. seems best suited to producing reports on how to make itself more effective and relevant. He ponders the current lame duckishness of the current tenure of Kofi Annan as Secretary General. He also laments the current lowest common denominator nature of all of the people currently being talked about as potential successors.

His key point is that he is calling for Bill Clinton to be nominated for the Secretary General of the UN. It's an intriguing idea. Excepting the domestic contingent of Clinton-haters, The Big Dog is about as close to the ideal of a global rockstar as exists today. And whether you like him or not, one has to admit, he's one of the most silver-tongued devils who has ever lived. There really aren't that many symbols of American government who command the global respect and admiration that Bill does.

I have to admit, if it was an elected position, I'd totally vote for Clinton for U.N. Secretary General.



Technorati tags: bill clinton, U.N.

Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Last night, I went out and bought the classic Bass-Rankin "Frosty" and "Rudolph" on DVD, and my girlfriend and I spent the evening making home-made Bailey's-style Irish cream liqueur, then watching those Christmas classics. I hadn't seen either of them in years, so I was looking forward to seeing them as an adult.

Rudolph, from the classic Rankin-Bass classic holiday TV show.

The one thing which struck both of us was the fact that, in Rudolph, Santa really comes across as being a total dick. As soon as Rudolph's fake nose pops off, during the Reindeer games, Santa disses him. After listening to the elves do their special song for him, he slams the performance saying it needs work.

Admittedly, he's supposed to be worried sick over the fact that the huge snowstorm is threatening to force him to cancel Christmas, but still. They portray him not as an otherwise-Jolly, but troubled Santa, but more of a crotchety, autocratic cobag. I wonder how many kids were subliminally conditioned towards anxiety about not pissing Santa off by the endless repetitions of "Rudolph" throughout the years.

At least in Frosty, Santa was mainly portrayed in a more standard Jolly Old Elf character. Although, at the end, they did leave Karen on the roof of her house with no apparent way down....

ANWR Drilling in Defense Spending Bill

There's a story sliding under the radar this weekend which, but for Iraqi elections, the stopped PATRIOT Act reauthorization, and revelations of seemingly illegal authorization of domestic spying by Chimpy, would probably be a top story. sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska is attempting to insert language into the annual defense spending bill which would open ANWR for oil drilling. Personally, for a long time, I spent a long time listening to the arguments from the pro- and anti- camps on this one, and wound up walking away with glazed eyes, and confused beyond my ability to give a crap.

We've heard from supporters that this is critical to our energy indepence, and that if the original bill for drilling had been authorized a decade ago, we'd be enjoying the benefits of that delectable Alaskan oil today. We've heard from the opponents that this would destroy a pristine wilderness, and wont really affect the overall picture much, anyway.

So, I figured it was time to go to the ultimate source on this one: The DOE Energy Information Administration. Here's the quick overview on ANWR; It's located up on the northern coast of Alaska, east of Prudhoe Bay, "the largest oil field ever discovered in the United States".



The EIA Analysis Summary was last updated in Jun 2004, so the dates referenced are probably going to be off by about two years.

Because of the nature of oil drilling, it's anticipated that it will take between 7-12 years from authorization to initial production. As the Analysis Summary states: "The opening of the ANWR 1002 Area to oil and gas development is projected to increase domestic oil production starting in 2013." So, if this was authorized, we're looking at roughly a decade from opening the area for drilling and the initial "opening of the taps". From that point, it will take more time until peak production can be acheived. "In 2025, the coastal plain of ANWR is projected to reach 0.9 million barrels per day under the USGS mean oil resource case, and 0.6 and 1.6 million barrels per day under the low and high resource cases, respectively."
In other words, in 2025 we can expect to hit peak production of between 0.6MBD and 1.6MBD, with a mean estimate of 0.9MBD.

How will that affect our dependence on imported oil?

Petroleum imports are projected to decline one barrel for every barrel of ANWR production. Opening the coastal plain of ANWR is projected to reduce 2025 oil import dependence from 70 percent in the AEO2004 reference case to 66 percent in the mean resource case. The high and low oil resource cases project a 2025 oil import dependency of 64 percent and 67 percent, respectively.

So, in the best of cases, given the information we know, we'll be reducing our import dependence from 70% to 64%. I've got to admit that the "it wont make much of a difference" argument seems to have some weight behind it.

For the hell of it, I just wanted to take a look at some absolute BPD import numbers, just to get a sense of what ANWR peak production means. From here, we find that in 2004, the US had net petroleum imports of ~ 12 million BPD. So, the anticipated peak production of ANWR would be the equivalent of between 5%-13.3% of our what we're currently importing. At best, this could be considered a start.

So the effects of full ANWR production towards reducing imported petroleum is decades away, and the impact is, at best, small. Does it make us independent of Middle East oil? On the basis of this information, I'm saying; "hell, no!" So, frankly, if this is being justified on the basis of ecomonic impact to Alaska, there's an argument, but from the "independence from imported oil perspective," I'm sure not seeing it.

PARK(ing) - Guerilla Park Project

You've put your money in the meter, and you've got the spot for the next half hour. Now what do you do with it? If you're in San Francisco and part of the rebar group/project, you lay down some sod, put up a potted tree and some benches, and make a temporary mini-park. Or as they say: "Providing temporary public open space in a privatized part of town."

Very sweet idea. Originally via metafilter.

Congress Attempts to Lock Down Analog Outputs

Lord knows I'm sick of blogging about politics. I'm tired of alerting my readers to the daily evil being perpetrated in Congress. And I would gladly either give up blogging or find myself a new topic if Congress would stop trying to make life more of a pain in the ass.

Having said that, today's outrage is that Congress is now attempting to pass legislation to force manufacturers of consumer electronics to implement DRM restrictions out to the analog outputs.

The House Judiciary Committee today introduced a bill (HR 4569) to close the analog hole.

Here’s what we had to say about the draft version of the bill.

The government is proposing that devices (consumer electronics, computers, software) manufactured after a certain date respond to a copy-protection signal or watermark in a digital video stream, and pass along that signal when converting the video to analog. The same goes for analog video streams, to pass on the protection to the digital video outputs.

I'm just going to remind everyone that copyright protections were originally implemented for the public good, not to bow to the whim of media companies and provide legal protections to their profit margins.

As always, let's all contact our representatives and express opposition to HR 4569. And bds1313, you know I'm definitely talking to you, here.

(originally via boingboing)

Technorati tag: drm

King George Dissected

Given the immediacy of the concerns over the PATRIOT Act reauthorization, I really hadn't given much consideration to the full weight of yesterday's revelation that the ChimpAdmin had authorized domestic spying.

However, I read the following post by Glenn Greenwald, and the point was firmly smacked against my head with a 2x4. I am going to use the word "masterful" to describe this post, and will say that everyone must read it. Seriously, every American citizen owes it to themselves to read it and think about it long and hard.

Bush's unchecked Executive power v. the Founding principles of the U.S.

New exitramp team member - strawmanliberal

Everyone, I'd just like to take a moment to introduce the newest member of the exitramp editorial team: StrawmanLiberal.

He's going to be providing insight from the perspective of the caricature liberal you hear Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter talking about so often.

Let's give the man a hand, people....

PATRIOT Act - Filibuzt0rz!

pwned! LOL!!!1!1!

Looks like the final vote was 53 to 47, no cloture!!

Back to committee...

Thanks to peacenik23 for liveblogging the CSPAN coverage.

technorati tag: patriot act

What's up with CNN headline writers?

It would appear they've started hiring caveman-americans:

Yes, indeed, Turok. And great ball of fire in sky give heat, life. Ungh!

BMW Fuel Efficiency Technology

Hybrids, hybrids, hybrids...sure they're a great idea, but I'm sick of hearing about them.

Luckily, it seems like BMW has heard my plea. BMW has seen the future of automobile efficiency, and it is: The Steam engine?

Yes, apparently, they've developed a system which recaptures some of the heat which is normally lost through the exhaust, and uses it to power a steam engine to provide additional power to the drivetrain. It increases efficiency by 15%.

I guess I'd really better get cracking on my gasoline-hamsterwheel hybrid drive technology before someone beats me to it.

PATRIOT Act - Cloture vote @ 11 am

There will be a vote for cloture on the PATRIOT Act today at 11, and the Russinator thinks there are enough votes to block dat shit.

Of course, today the nytimes also revealed that the ChimpAdmin has authorized domestic spying in apparent violation of our Fourth Amendment rights, so let's hope that revelation will push any wavering Libertarians over to our camp.

Technorati tags: patriot act, civil liberties

**update** Link to domestic spying article changed to an msnbc link, since nytimes.com locks articles up after a few days.

PATRIOT Act - Cloture Debate Friday Morning

According to Sen. Feingold, the Senate is scheduled to vote on cloture Friday morning. The Repubs need 60 votes for cloture, then discussion is closed, but it's not clear that they have them. Nor is it clear that they don't...

Ugh! I don't think I'm going to sleep too soundly tonight.

Technorati tag: patriot act

Bill of Rights Anniversary

Given all the recent posts about the PATRIOT Act, I think it's only fitting to note that today is the 214th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights! (wikipedia entry)

It became law on Dec 15, 1791. Happy Birthday, big guy!

Now, let's focus on making sure it survives substantially unmolested for many, many more birthdays, mmmm-kay?

(A tip of the hat to Garrison Keillor's "Writer's Almanac" for pointing this fact out to me.)

PATRIOT Act - Momentum?

I'm busy today, so I just wanted to point this out quickly...

On today's TMPCafe post, Sen. Feingold points out that there is a debate on the Senate floor about the PATRIOT Act starting at 10:30AM EST. In what I hope turns out to be a positive sign, he makes this comment:

I will be on the Senate floor listening and taking part in the debate and if you have the opportunity, please tune in. It's clear that your voices are being heard. Our efforts continue to pick up steam and more and more members of Congress understand that we need to change this conference report to address the important civil liberties concerns we have discussed over the last 4 years.

So, there's clearly good reason to believe our concerns are not falling on deaf ears. Reasonable civil liberties protections may not be dead just yet, folks.

PATRIOT Act - PA Votes

The following is taken directly from here. At least Kanjorski voted "No," I'm going to have to call his office, too, and commend him.

(AP) — The 251-174 roll call Wednesday by which the House passed a measure to renew a modified USA Patriot Act.

A "yes" vote is a vote to pass the bill.

Voting yes were 44 Democrats and 207 Republicans.
Voting no were 155 Democrats, 18 Republicans and one independent.
X denotes those not voting.

There is one vacancy in the 435-member House.

PENNSYLVANIA

Democrats — Brady, N; Doyle, N; Fattah, N; Holden, Y; Kanjorski, N; Murtha, N; Schwartz, Y.

Republicans — Dent, Y; English, Y; Fitzpatrick, N; Gerlach, Y; Hart, Y; Murphy, Y; Peterson, X; Pitts, Y; Platts, Y; Sherwood, Y; Shuster, Y; Weldon, Y.


Technorati tag: patriot act

PATRIOT Act - Feingold Update

Sen. Feingold has a new post up on TPMCafe confirming that Senators Reid and Leahy are backing him on opposing cloture for the PATRIOT Act compromise authorization.

Russ also has a press release up here. He stresses his continuing commitment to the bill which was originally worked out back in July, as opposed to the compromise bill that just came out of conference.

I'm personally calling Specter's office as soon as I get a minute and expressing my support for Feingold's position.

Technorati tag: patriot act

House Renews Patriot Act

The house today voted 251-174 today on the compromise PATRIOT Act reauthorization. No details on the vote are up on Thomas yet.

However, Harry Reid has apparently joined Russ Feingold in threatening a no vote to cloture. This is apparently causing enough concern to Frist, that he's talking about only reauthorizing it for one year.

I think it's time to start a wave of phone campaigning to our representatives to back our commitment to strong civil liberties, people.

Technorati tag: patriot act

Fine Beer Review

Over on his until-recently-neglected blog our friend and drinking buddy, bds1313, has started doing reviews of fine beers.

We are all members of a fine beer club at a local restaurant, and bds puts us all to shame for sheer quantity of beers sampled. Personally, after 3 or 4 beers, I have a hard time remembering details at the level of detail that bds retains. As such, his taste and expertise is always highly appreciated. Especially when, at the end of the night, he helps me remember which direction my home is.

Go check it out. (Although, admittedly, if you're reading this post, odds are you already know all this, bu-ut...)

Feingold v. Specter on PATRIOT Act Extension

Before I say anything else, let me make clear that as a constituent, and as a liberal-leaning Independent, I respect Arlen Specter. Hell...I've voted for the guy. In a rational, non-partisan world, he exemplifies what I look for in a politician. Further, as a denizen of Corporate America, I am more than aware of the fact that the art of compromise is a virtue.

Unfortunately, I have to say that on the subject of the USA PATRIOT Act, Specter and I are on opposite sides of the fence. And Sen. Feingold and I are not only on the same side of the fence, but we're digging postholes together.

Russ posted a transcript of the debate Senators Feingold and Specter had today regarding the Patriot Act extension. Admittedly, it is an awkward and unfriendly mechanical(?) transcription of the exchange on the Senate floor. And it is painful in its Parliamentary procedures and formalities. But I laughed my ass off reading it, and gained a lot of respect for both Senators for having read it, and I encourage everyone to do the same (Once you've left work and have a free 45 min or so).

Sen. Specter understandably argued that he fought for the best compromise that he could. Details were argued and compromises conceded, apparently. However, my essential agreement with Sen. Feingold was summed up by the following quote from him (admittedly, highly selective - read the whole thing):

A SUNSET IS ONLY A SECOND LEVEL OF PROTECTION SAYING, LOOK, PEOPLES' RIGHTS MIGHT BE VIOLATED NOW, BUT AT LEAST WE'LL HAVE A CHANCE TO CHANGE IT LATER.

One of the things that has been drilled into my head since childhood, regarding the qualities which makes this country great, is that we are better than the fascists and the commies and whatever self-righteous goverments which ignore the principle of "government of the people, by the people, for the people". The country which I love is the country that is secure in its judicial processes over an authoritarian self-protection. I really have to give Russ some serious props for standing up for essential principles over a watered-down compromise, which compromise is fundamentally opposite to what I consider fundamental to our basic liberties.

MoveOn PATRIOT Act Petition

MoveOn PAC has a petition up to urge Congress to reconsider the PATRIOT Act extension compromise.

It builds upon the efforts of Sen. Feingold to strengthen protections for Civil Liberties.

I urge anyone who does not like the idea of a scary-ass police state to sign it...

Technorati tag: patriot act

Badass Corporate Ladder Climbing

When it comes to giving money to charity, I prefer the United Way, since they seem to be devoted to promoting the general welfare, rather than (at least potentially) advancing a "My god is better than your god" agenda.

As such, I was checking out my local United Way website, and more specifically, its "News and Events" page. While reading that page, it was hard not to notice the bio on the 2002-2003 Campaign Chair:

[He] joined PNC Bank in 1984 as a corporate banking trainee in the credit department. In 1985, he was named commercial lending officer in East Stroudsburg corporate where he advanced to assistant vice president in 1986

DAY-um!, boy...trainee to assistant vice president in two years? That is some serious-ass advancement.

He's also on the board of a bunch of local Chambers of Commerce and every major local business development organization. I gotta talk to that guy...maybe he can put in a word for me somewhere...

Hello.....Ladys!

Everyone who has a blog with sitemeter certainly relishes the moment where one's blog is discovered via some bizarre search string.

Today I found my sweet search! I am apparently, at this moment, result #1 on search.msn.com for:
"events on december 14,2005 for ladys"

Hello....Ladys! Can I buy you a drink?

The "ladys" came from my "War Against Christmas" post, and the rest is clearly just serendipity.

I guess December 14th is officially "Ladys Night" at exitramp. All ladies get in without a cover, drinks half-price. Tell your friends....

Russ Feingold at TPMCafe

Sen. Russ Feingold will be blogging over at TPMCafe this week.

The first post is part of his ongoing work to rationalize the PATRIOT Act.

PATRIOT Act Extension Compromise

Lock up your privacy and civil liberties, folks, for the House and Senate have settled on a compromise PATRIOT Act extension. This baby includes lovely features like a 4-year-extension on "roving wiretaps", continues to allow the goverment to investigate people who are not actually suspected of any wrongdoing, and keeps those Orwellian permanent gag orders.

My boy Russ Feingold is calling it a turd and is threatening a filibuster to block its passage.

The 2005 USA PATRIOT Act extension: "I can't tell you how much I like it! Seriously. My gag order forbids it!"

Technorati tag: patriot act

Weekly Rumsfeld "Iraq Withdrawal Update"

In what is becoming an increasingly difficult story to keep straight, we learn today that Rumsfeld is now back on the "Draw Troops Down from Iraq in 2006" wagon. Admittedly, it has been slightly more than a week since the last time Rumsfeld said that withdrawal would be a mistake, so flipping on that position really is overdue. (link)

And prior to that, it was a full 10 days since Murtha was being called a traitor for suggesting such an idea, even though it was simultaneously being reported that Gen. Casey had submitted drawdown plans to Rumsfeld. (link)

Were we to go back to the summer, we'll find that there was some confusion about whether Rumsfeld was at that time calling for a quick pullout, (here) followed a month later by the story that the Army was planning on having "well over 100,000 troops" in Iraq for at least 4 more years. (here)

In all fairness, we must point out that it was Mr. Rumsfeld himself who suggested before the war began: "It is unknowable how long that conflict will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months." (link) So, clearly he's got some issues when it comes to making plans and sticking with them.

Rumsfeld illustrating his progress
on mastering that Vulcan hand gesture thingy.

House Extends Tax Cuts

Well, it looks like we've got the tax cuts on capital gains and dividends for another two years. Of course, this wouldn't be a bad thing if we didn't have a massive Federal deficit. Or if they hadn't just lopped approximately the same amount of money off of Medicare, food stamps and student loans, not three weeks ago. (Linky)

I'm particularly fond of this quote:

But Phil Gingrey, a Georgia Republican, insisted his party was not "robbing the poor to pay the rich". Instead, he said, failure to extend the cuts would result in a tax increase.

No... Failure to extend the cuts would result in: the end of the cuts. Pay special attention to that word "cuts". Or what other people might call "a return to the original level of taxation, prior to the cuts, which were sold as a temporary measure to kickstart the recession-addled economy." See how easy it is, Phil?

Oh well...I suppose I'll take my savings on this years' dividend taxes and go buy a six-pack.

Day of Infamy

Just realized it was December 7th.

Let us not forget.

Rude on Scalito

I think Rude sums the whole Alito subject up quite nicely in this post, so I'm mainly just going to link and make a brief comment.

Given how the wingnuts have been howling that criticism of Alito amounts to (surreally) racism or (more recently) anti-Christian bias, it's certainly interesting that Alito is bending over backwards to dodge the abortion question. BushCo. nominated him to appeal to the base, so it should be reasonable to assume that he's anti-abortion. Only, all of the players know that support of Roe v. Wade is still strong enough that they can't go around broadcasting this fact without a kerfluffle.

Arlen Specter managed a disturbingly weak showing when he explained that "[Alito] said that his personal feelings would not be a factor in his judicial decision...With respect to his personal views on a woman's right to choose, he says that that is not a matter to be considered in the deliberation on a constitutional issue of a woman's right to choose. The judicial role is entirely different." And in a vacuum, if it wasn't clear that opposition to Roe. was a key characteristic for this post-Harriet nominee, that might even be a sustainable argument. However, as Rude points out:

Every opportunity that Samuel Alito was given to comment or rule on involving abortion, he attempted to restrict access to or express his dismay with Roe v. Wade. He said, back in 1985, that the federal government should help states "chip away" at Roe. In his job application to be Deputy Assistant Attorney General, he volunteered, without prompting on the issue, that he believed that "the Constitution does not protect the right to an abortion." And, of course, in 1991, he dissented from the majority opinion on Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, saying that a woman should be forced to tell her possibly raping, abusive husband that she wants an abortion.

The point is that there's no reason to assume that our boy Harriet Jr. is anything other than an anti-Roe tool. But the backroom players all know that coming out and saying that is going to start a shitfit. And they hope they can make that fact slide through without too many people finding out.

Avian flu for the birds??

OK so something caught my eye that was so intriguing that I had to post it. I won't go into because it's all in this nice little linky.

Makes you really wonder.

Update in the War Against Christmas

I've been busy this weekend, as a loyal strawman liberal, executing some tactical strikes in the War Against Christmas. I was up late Friday night re-arranging the neighbors Christmas lights so that their "Happy Holidays" and "Merry Christmas" signs now read "Pay Hip Ho Ladys" and "Merry Shit! Scram!" Even though I personally question the efficacy of such measures, the War Against Christmas Operations Manual insists that these are invaluable subversive morale-destroying measures which make Baby Jesus and Bill O'Reilly cry.

Also, I checked the mail Saturday. In it was the check from the ACLU containing the money from George Soros. With check in hand, I placed two full-page ads in the local paper, set to run for the entire week of Christmas.

The reason for placing two ads has to do with the double-pronged attack strategy. One ad reminds everybody of the pagan origins of Christmas as the celebration of the Winter Solstice. It features the prominent tagline: "This Christmas, remember to thank a pagan!" The second ad is ostensibly from a fundamentalist christian shell orgainization, lamenting the commercialization of Christmas, and imploring everyone to not to forget "the reason for the season" by getting too wrapped up in the buying. This ad serves to deliver a deadly blow to the capitalist retailers.

On the way back from the newspaper offices, I decided to stop in at the nearby Christian bookstore. This place is clearly not a "Happy Holidays" kind of place. Hell, at this time of year, all their t-shirts and sweatshirts that are normally tagged as size XL are changed to read "Christ Large". I badgered them to order some Harry Potter books for me for a while, then used the rest of the Soros money to buy up their entire inventory of Narina boxed sets. This way, there will be a bunch of god-fearing children who wont have the books in time for the December release of the movie.

Bwah-hahahaha! It's good to be an evil strawman liberal.

If a blog is posted in the forest, and noone reads it...

Due to recent issues with a project that have been consuming all my time at work, my posting has been sporadic, at best. As such, even my three friends who compose the remaining not-me 20% of my site traffic, barely even check it more than once a week.

As such, I've been thinking about putting adSense on the blog and turning it into one of those spamblogs. At least then I might be able to pick up a few nickels off of this endeavor. I could just see it now...

....<<< fade, dream sequence music >>>......

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Horse Tranquilizers ... Bathtub Roofies ... Herbal Methamphetamines ... Generic Kindbud ... Godiva(R)"Amsterdam Select" Hashish Almond Truffles ... Bargain Paint-Thinner ... Home-made Vicodin ... Imported Amazonian Toads ... "I Can't Believe It's Not Peyote!!" ... Genuine Kazahkistani Moonshine ...

All at the guaranteed lowest prices! visa, mastercard, paypal, and money orders accepted (Sorry, no personal checks, C.O.D. or barter). Visit us now for your One Stop Illicit/Illegal Drugs Shop!! Must be 18 or older (or willing to claim you are)

Long Day Quickie Post

YOU THERE!! Feel special!!

If it wasn't for you, odds are, nobody in the whole world would be reading this blog right now.

Technorati tag: feel-good crap

New Book Excerpt - Spy Thriller

Based on my own comments from my previous post about Porter Goss' comments about finding Bin Laden, I was inspired. The following is an excerpt from my forthcoming novel:

"Everywhere To Hide: Volume One of the Goss CIA Dossier Series"

It's been a while since I've read a Clancy novel, but I'm trying my best to capture that overwrought Spy Thriller feel. Enjoy.

Chapter One: Active engagement

Stone Anderson tossed the paperweight from hand to hand, and he reflected on the feel of the cool, polished surface against his skin. He was the sort of man who couldn't be bothered to sit still, especially to wait in the anteroom of the CIA Director's office.

Suddenly, Angeline walked through the door from the director's office, carrying a stack of redacted documents.

"Director Goss is ready for you, now, Stone." She said with a demure smile, her serious but attractive lips curling up at the corners into girlish dimples.

"Thanks, Angel. Did he have his lunch already, or should I expect to get chewed out in there?" He replied.

Angeline snickered, "I don't know, Stone...the mood in there is pretty dark. I hope you didn't wear your Eau de Steak and potatoes."

"Heh. Wish me luck, kiddo." He said.

He walked into the dimly lit room to see Director Goss and Assistant Director Stonecipher staring intently at the computer screen. Goss looked up at him as he entered.

"Stone. You're right on time." Goss said, "I'll get right down to brass tacks."

Anderson could tell immediately the situation was grim. If Goss skipped the usual chit-chat or commendations from the President, it always meant a clock somewhere was ticking fast.

"We need you to get to Pakistan, Anderson," Director Goss said, "Our agents in Pakistan need your help finding Bin Laden."

Stone's eyebrow peaked, and he asked, "Why? What's the problem?"

Goss pulled his glasses off and massaged his nose. "Because, Stone, the sonofagun is," he sighed,"hiding."

"Hiding?" Anderson exclaimed, his eyes pulled wide, "That nefarious, cowardly bastard."

Director Goss put his glasses back on. "Yes, Stone. He's hiding. We had two of our best deep operatives from Kabul on his trail for the last three months." A deep operative was the term the CIA used for a first generation American citizen of foreign ancestry who was trained as a Level 6 operative at Langley, and assigned back into their ancestral homeland. In areas like the Middle East, they were invaluable assets, in ways that even the most darkly-complected, Christian God-fearing American could never be.

"They tracked him to a small village, about 50 miles from Bannu." Director Goss continued,"They actually had him cornered and were prepared to take action to apprehend him, but Bin Laden used his hands to cover his own eyes--"

"And they couldn't see him." Stone finished, "That evil Islamofascist may be a maniac, but he's a maniac genius."

Director Goss turned the computer monitor towards Anderson. It showed a map of the Afghani-Pakistani border. Stone stared intently at the map for a few seconds, his muscular jaw tensing and relaxing in deep contemplation.

"Did you try Googling for him?" Stone asked.

"Yes. And we even checked the Yahoo People Finder." Director Goss replied, his voice sounding resolute, but weary, "We found a few leads, but they all turned out to be dead ends."

CIA v. al-Qaeda

Catching up on today's events, we hear today from CIA director Porter Goss that:

Al Qaeda leaders bin Laden and al-Zarqawi haven't been found "primarily because they don't want us to find them and they're going to great lengths to make sure we don't find them," Goss said in the interview

It's so sad to see the mighty CIA laid low by those evil al-Qaeda masterminds using their devious hiding tactics. If only I'd known it was that easy sooner, I would have been trading state secrets for profit years ago. This sure takes the wind out of the sails of all those Tom Clancy novels, doesn't it? As has been said elsewhere, one has to wonder if the current government is so tied up in their own "it's hard work" incompetence that they honestly think this is somehow a profound explanation, rather than a sad, depressing sidestep.

Further, when Goss states that: the CIA knows "a good deal more" about the men "than we're able to say publicly." I'm actually less inclined to say "bullshit" than I am to just speculate on exactly what kind of dirty scheme is keeping the administration in thrall to the Pakistanis and/or Saudis. When the British transit bombers and Madrid train bomber masterminds are identified and surrounded within weeks, it really just seems sad that the freaking CIA can't or wont execute an operation to capture or kill Bin Laden.

Another Day, Another Major Speech on Iraq

It has been a week or two since Chimpy gave the last speech touted as a "major speech on Iraq", and the poll numbers don't look too good, so I suppose it's time for a new one.


This one is being touted as special because he's also delivered his "victory plan". I guess three years into a war isn't the worst time to deliver the plan for winning it, but sooner probably would have been better.

And just to clarify all the fluff from last week, timetables are still bad.

Iraq Withdrawal - My Head Spins Off Entirely

Okay, apparently the whisperings going around since Sunday were wrong, or are no longer operative, or were just another misdirection tactic.

As of 16:26 EST, Bush and Rumsfeld are saying that a troop withdrawal from Iraq would be a mistake.

I can no longer keep up with this crap. From now on I'm quitting posting about national politics and will solely discuss local politics and do cat blogging.

Treason and Comfort to the Enemy Redux

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

An Open Letter to American Liberals

My Dear Comrades,

As a strawman liberal, I feel the following needs to be said.

Truly, in this Post-9/11 world, it has be difficult to be a tax-and-spend, cut-and-run, america-hating liberal. Oh certainly, we have had some minor victories in promoting our homosexual agenda, as witnessed in the recent outbreak of municipal gay marriages. But whatever minor victories we have accomplished there are now offset by Bill O'Reilly's counter-offensive on our War Against Christmas. Moreover, the current trends in the Supreme Court, and various Boards of Education, seem likely to threaten all of our successes over the last 50 years in turning America away from God, and towards glorious atheism. I have watched with woe and terror as the blog-centric juggernaut Pajamas Media/Open Source Media/OSM/Pajamas Media succeeds in prying free the stranglehold our Liberal Media Empire has had on delivering news to the proletariat.

But, on this Thanksgiving Day, I urge you to look instead towards all the things we have to be thankful for, and rejoice.

We seem to have derailed the Right's attempt to save Social Security, for the time being. In the foreseeable future, there is little worry that the masses will be able to stand on their own without seeking handouts from the government. Our activist judges are working diligently to legislate from the benches of federal courts throughout the land. And our insidious tactics of presenting the reality-based objective-truth have steadily succeeded in turning public opinion against the hated Bush Administration.

As icing on the cake, we learn today that the hated Right-Wing Power Couple of Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey have officially split. Truly, there is much to be thankful for.

On this Thanksgiving Day, I remind you all of these successes, and urge you to be thankful.

To you all, according to your need, from me, according to my ability,

Comrade mergenow

Last Survivor of WWI Christmas Truce Dies

Alfred Anderson, the last survivor of the WWI Christmas Truce, died in his sleep yesterday. He was 109 years old.

In one of the most odd stories of war, on Christmas Day in 1914 in Ypres, Belgium, the British and German troops in the trenches staged an impromptu truce, sang Christmas Carols, exchanged small gifts, and most famously (allegedly) played soccer.

He was interviewed last year by the Guardian, before the 90th anniversary of the event, in what I consider to be a powerful article.

Dude was a WWI vet, people. Peace, Alfred.



Technorati Tag: WWI Veterans

PSU beats Michigan State

31-22.

w00t!

Calls for Withdrawal from Iraq

I think a quick recap is in order. Rep. John Murtha's call for a plan to withdraw troops is apparently a bad thing. I'm hearing that we need to stay in Iraq until our job is done, even though nobody has yet bothered to explain to me exactly what that job is. (Mission not yet Accomplished...got it) In fact in this story, we are told:

“To cut and run would invite terrorism into our backyards, and no one wants to see troops fighting terrorism on American soil,” Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said Friday night

Now, it's also not clear to me how Murtha's call for an orderly plan for withdrawal constitutes "cutting and running", nor how that would lead to troops fighting in my backyard. Presumably, my patio furniture has strategic value in the eyes of your modern Islamofascists.

However, in all the fuss on Friday, I nearly missed this lovely little nugget of news:

The top U.S. commander in Iraq has submitted a plan to the Pentagon for withdrawing troops in Iraq, according to a senior defense official.

Gen. George Casey submitted the plan to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. It includes numerous options and recommends that brigades -- usually made up of about 2,000 soldiers each -- begin pulling out of Iraq early next year.

HOOOO-boy! I cannot wait to see the fireworks and vitriol launched against those terrorist-loving pinkos! Why does Gen. Casey want to undermine our troops? It's apparently a case of self-loathing similar to that which afflicts Jews who criticize Israel, if I understand my wingnuttery. Let's not forget that Rumsfeld is complicit in this, as well...so he obviously hates our freedoms.

I'm sure the Congressional republicans will be all over these guys on Monday.

UPDATE Looking back over my own blog posts, I'm reminded that pinko Rumsfeld has been giving comfort to our enemies for some time now...

UPDATE 2 In all fairness, I have to note that the original "Rumsfeld calls for fast Iraqi pullout" story was later corrected, and it turns out that he didn't actually say that.

PATRIOT Act Reauthorization on Hold

Truly we live in interesting times. Today, we learned from a diary on dailykos by Sen. Russ Feingold, (or someone on his staff, at least) that the attempt to push a bill to extend the USA Patriot act was shelved until December. I haven't done an exhaustive search for it, but I don't see that making headlines anywhere, as of this moment.

I'm quite pleased about that outcome, so far, but I'm more intrigued by the implications of the "Senator as Diarist" concept. We have reached a point where participatory democracy works in a way it could never have worked before.

Smallville DVDs on Amazon

While watching tonight's episode of Smallville, I decided to check out the price of the DVDs on amazon. I was interested in purchasing the Complete First Four Seasons set. Let's note that this option is nothing different than purchasing the individual DVD box sets of the individual seasons (actually it also includes the pilot episode as well.)

However, it's a good thing I'm such a stickler for figuring out exactly how much I'd be saving by purchasing the box set. The complete set is currently selling for $165.32. But if you sum up the prices of the individual pieces of the set, it comes out to $151.90.

Either amazon gave the task of pricing this one to the intern, or they're hoping to make some extra cash off less-than-observant customers.



update: Oh, and I forgot to mention that this evening's episode contained what had to be the most annoyingly blatant product placements I've ever seen. Lois' new car, which just happened to be the same model that was being pitched by Ford in their key sponsorship for the episode, was entirely too significant throughout the story in a painful, hamhanded way. Bad WB...bad.

Tour de Blogs - Sadly, No!

Brad R. has me pissing myself over this post at Sadly, No! I consider this bit to be the money quote:

The first response in Europe to the [French] riots was one of shock, inaction, and insults. The people in the street [were] called "scum," Liberals were perplexed at the immigrants hostility after all the programs they created for them, and the police stood by and helplessly watched.

Indeed. You may remember all those Muslims boys who torched cars while chanting, "STOP GIVING US FREE HEALTHCARE, YOU FRENCH C@CKS#CKERS!"

(edited slightly for improved readability and work-safe-ishness)

Alito and Promises

Okay, I'm just going to build on what Holden said here.

So, just to recap, we know that Chimpy's boy, Sam "Harriet Jr." Alito has no problems breaking a promise. In 1990, during his confirmation hearings, he promised to recuse himself from any cases involving Vanguard, with whom he held hundreds of thousands of dollars in funds. However, once he was on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, he ruled on a case involving Vanguard, and complained about attempts to get him to recuse himself. (source)

Yesterday, Sammy spoke with Sen. Dianne Feinstein on the subject a 1985 document in which he argued ''the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.'' Talking about that discussion later, Sen. Feinstein explained:

''He said first of all it was different then,'' she said. ''He said, 'I was an advocate seeking a job, it was a political job and that was 1985. I'm now a judge, I've been on the circuit court for 15 years and it's very different. I'm not an advocate, I don't give heed to my personal views, what I do is interpret the law.'''

Let's just sum this situation up, here...While attempting to get a new job, he's telling one of his interviewers that he has unrepentantly lied to get a previous job in the past. But he wouldn't do that now...oh, heavens no.

They don't even try to pretend anymore, do they?

NEPAblogging - James Watson to Lecture at U of S

Dr. James D. Watson, as in Watson and Crick, discoverers of the structure of DNA, will be speaking at the University of Scranton on Thursday, Nov. 17th at 8pm. He will be presenting "Living with DNA", for the Harry Mullin, M.D. Memorial Lecture.

As stated in the press release, the lecture is open to the public and free of charge.

NEPAblogging - Da Preznit, He Loves Him Da NEPA

Interestingly, in a move which garnered surprisingly little water cooler discussion, Chimpy is delivering a speech for Armistice Day in Tobyhanna. When both Chimpy and Kerry kicked off their 2004 campaigns in NEPA, it was certainly odd, but I eventually accepted it and just said "Huh!"

Why give a speech in NEPA on Veteran's day? The first thought I had was that this was some kind of an attempt to prop up Santorum, but according to the Times-Tribune, Santorum wont even be there.

Curiouser and curiouser....

Bush - Conflicting Stand on Torture

Bush, today, made a statement about the US and it's use of torture. The key money quote from his statement today:

He declared, "We do not torture."
Okay, great! I can't believe I need to hear a President of the United States make that claim, but given all the recent shit, it's good to hear we're taking a strong, clear policy statement that rules out the possibility that we'd use torture. Truly, this is a clear and unambiguous victory for moral, ethical and human rights policy.

Oh, but wait. What's that in the opening paragraph of the same article?

President Bush vigorously defended U.S. interrogation practices in the war on terror Monday and lobbied against a congressional drive to outlaw torture.

But...but...if we do not torture, why would you oppose a law that explicitly outlaws torture? Wouldn't it just follow that if we're going to say we don't torture, we would back that statement up with a law reinforcing our commitment to that position?

Unless, this is yet another hollow statement exemplifying the "Say one thing and do the opposite" record of our Assministration...? It couldn't be that...could it?

Sunday News Roundup - Riots and Misdeeds Edition

It's Sunday after a busy week at work, (plus a long weekend wedding trip) so you all know what that means: Weekend News Roundup.

1. After a full weekend down south meeting with Latin American leaders, which on Friday prompted protests and riots, Chimpy took some time out to insult some of those leaders. Incidentally, on the subject of protests, I'm amazed that no enterprising tourist agency has come up with an Anti-Globalization Protester Package Tour...("Come for the protests, stay for the hospitality!")

2. Speaking of rioting, Paris has been seized by rioting for over 11 straight days now. Apparently, the disaffected Muslim youth are no longer going to tolerate the 23% unemployment rate for the under-25 segment of the population. Apparently, the rioters are now becoming more co-ordinated and violent in their attacks on the police. Using the Administration's benchmarks for our Iraqi adventure, the rioters are a bunch of dead-enders in their last throes.

3. My buddy Ken Tomlinson, the goon responsible for attempting to bring more conservative viewpoints to the allegedly liberal-biased Public Broadcasting systems, has been forced out and is under investigation for financial shenanigans, which if substantiated could involve criminal violations. The tears I shed are copious, indeed.

4. Finally, the New York Times reports that we have more evidence suggesting that the Assministration knowingly misrepresented the intelligence used to argue for the invasion of Iraq. A key detainee whose information was a primary source for the claims that Iraq was training Al-Qaeda members, was identified in February 2002 as having mislead "debriefers". This source was subsequently cited by Bush, Cheney and Powell when selling the war.

And that's our weekend, people. Enjoy.

Bush to Announce National Flu Plan

The big headline today is that Bush will be unveiling his national bird flu plan.

I can just imagine...

The Plan
1. Drink lots of fluids
2. Eat soup (but avoid chicken soup)
3. Stockpile Tamiflu
4. Kill and burn your parakeet if he starts sneezing

I guess he can throw Harriet Miers a bone and appoint her to the soon-to-be-created cabinet-level Flu Czar post.

Fitzmas and Google Ads

For my last post, I hopped over to Technorati to see what was filed under the "fitzmas" tag. Gotta love the Google Ads that came up on that criteria:

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Gas Scooters At Wholesale
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Ads by Google

Advertise on Technorati

Technorati Tag: fitzmas

Fitzmas: After the Storm, the Praise Begins

Fitzmas Day has come and gone, and it was definitely an exciting day. However, the unspoken end result is that we all know we didn't get everything we were hoping for. We got the nice Lego set, but the bicycle we had set our hopes on wasn't there. But the Jolly Old Elf, Fitz Cringle himself, assures us that it's still a possibility for our birthday.

Now that the dust has settled, the AP reports that Bush is stressing the "innocent until proven guilty" angle.

"Scooter has worked tirelessly on behalf of the American people and sacrificed much in the service to this country," Bush said. "In our system, each individual is presumed innocent and entitled to due process and a fair trial."

For the President who was running on a pledge to restore honor and integrity to the White House, that's a pretty fine hair to be splitting. As this WaPo article mentions, the bar for which firing is merited has been raised as Fitzmas seemed to be drawing nearer.

But more to the point, the trail of commendations for failure is getting longer and longer.

Scooter - "worked tirelessly on behalf of the American people"
Harriet - "the best person I could find."
Brownie - "doing a heck of a job"
Tenet and Bremer - Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Realistically, at this point, it would seem to be time to start discussing Bush's criteria for awarding praise. Frankly, we all know your buddy can put lipstick on any old pig and call it a beauty queen, but at some point the listener is going to realize that his buddy is setting him up on some pretty disappointing blind dates.

Technorati tag: fitzmas

The Onion Fires Back

After the flap over the use of the Presidential seal, this is apparently the Onion's retort. (I know everyone else has been posting it, I just wanted to join in on the fun)

Bernanke Nomination - Extended Post

My original post on the nomination of Ben Bernanke as Fed Chief was done while I was at work, and necessarily brief and admittedly completely free of added value. Alas, such are the hazards of the employed blogger. And frankly, given the comment-love I get from my three or four regular readers...tough titties.

However, since I did make a point of putting "Economics" in my sub-title content
description, it would be pretty weak if I didn't comment on this baby.

As mentioned in my original sparse post, the Bernanke selection was considered a very good choice by Brad Delong. Given my time constraints, that was the best commentary I could find on the subject.

Upon arriving home, I hopped over to Brad Setser's blog, where I was reminded that Bernanke was responsible for coining the idea of the "global savings glut" to explain the U.S. current account deficit situation. The essence of the theory boils down to:"US fiscal policy has had essentially no impact on the US current account deficit and continued large current account deficits pose relatively few risks," from Setser in an earlier post on the "global savings glut" here. The earlier post is devoted to what would effectively be the Roubini and Setser rebuttal of that argument. From a political-left perspective, reading about the global savings glut at the time, it was hard not to take away the sense that the theory was mainly an attempt to deflect criticism away from the current fiscal policies, and shift the blame to a nebulous "elsewhere".

More troubling was this New York Times column by Paul Krugman from Jan 25th of this year, prior to his move to the Council of Economics Advisors.(Courtesy pkarchive.org)

The last name one often hears is Ben Bernanke, currently a member of the Fed's Board of Governors. (Before going to the Fed, Mr. Bernanke was chairman of the Princeton economics department, where I'm on the faculty.) If Mr. Bernanke were appointed directly from his current Fed position to the chairmanship, there would be general acclaim. But he may soon move to the Council of Economic Advisers. Why?

Surely it's not because this administration, with its disdain for technical expertise in all fields, wants his advice. I hope I'm wrong, but my guess is that what's intended for Mr. Bernanke is a form of hazing: he will be expected to prove his loyalty by defending the indefensible and saying things he knows aren't true.

That might seem a tolerable price to pay for the Fed chairmanship - but a year of it might well make Mr. Bernanke damaged goods from the point of view of the markets.

It's a dilemma. I don't have any sympathy for the administration's perplexity. But I do wish Mr. Bernanke the best of luck, and hope he knows what he's doing.

But all politically-motivated scare-mongering aside, the man was on the shortlist for Fed Chief for a reason. His resume and background are all absolutely top-notch. As it seems likely that his confirmation will be quick and uncontested, I wish Mr. Bernanke the best and hope he proves any concerns unfounded.

The Editors on Iraq

Even though I primarily read The Poor Man for the witty, insightful commentary, I think The Editors may have reached a new plateau with this one:

I realize I should be celebrating the latest famous victory in Iraq, namely the purported approval of something calling itself “a constitution”; but, after celebrating the fall of Baghdad, the killing of Ebay and Uckfay, the capture of Saddama Claus, our string of military victories in Samarra, Fallujah, Najaf, Samarra, Najaf, Fallujah, Samarra, the blue fingers of freedom, Saddam’s trial, and every other fucking turning point and tunnel-ending light I forgot to mention, I’m all celebrated out, and I’m starting to wonder how many fucking backs the insurgency has left for us to break. I’m starting to think that all these “victories” may be mostly PR events, designed to cover up domestic political problems and the fact that Iraq is a complete disaster.

Bush to name Bernanke as next Fed Chief

According to all the kewl news channels, it looks like Bush is poised to nominate Ben Bernanke as the successor to Alan Greenspan as Fed Chairman.

Since I'm only an interested observer in this one, I take reassurance knowing that Brad DeLong has spoken highly of him in the past, and has given a thumbs-up to the approval.

"Does the Pope Sh!t in the Woods?" Department

Heh...from the current msnbc.com frontpage....

I especially love the baby-eating snarl photo.

Political Action Alert - H-1B Visas

Regular readers know I've been rather lazy about posting lately, and this one will continue my laziness by basically pointing right to a Kos diary, but it's important.

Apparently, the Senate Judiciary Committee is considering increasing the H-1B visa cap by 60,000 in order to generate more revenue as an attempt to cut the budget deficit.

Since approximately all of exitramp's readers are located near ExitRamp World Headquarters, in Lovely NorthEast Pennsylvania, I'll point out that Sen. Specter is the brainchild of this one. I urge everyone to contact Senator Specter and express your opposition to this measure. (Specter contact form here) The IEEE has proposed an alternative of raising the fees for existing H-1B visas to generate the additional revenue, which strikes me as the optimal solution. The last thing we need in this time of decreasing consumer confidence, stagnant wages, and skyrocketing energy costs is to have a larger pool of immigrant labor to put a downward pressure on wages for skilled workers.

New Owners for the Radisson at Lackawanna Station

Today's big Scranton-area news item is the purchase of the Radisson at Lackawanna Station hotel by a California-area real estate firm. This is certainly some good news for downtown Scranton, since there was some question earlier this year regarding the hotel's future. As reported by the Times-Tribune, the new owners, Akshar Lackawanna Station Hospitality LP, a unit of El Centro, Calif.-based Calvin Investments LLC, bought the facility for $7 million, and plans to spend $1.5-1.7 million to update the hotel. Most of these will be basic upgrades of amenities, which I've heard is a long-overdue move, along with plasma flatscreen TVs in the rooms, which will be a nice touch. Of course, this news comes hot on the heels of the recent purchase of the Hilton Scranton from bankruptcy by Spectrum Origination LLC.

So, the two upscale hotels in downtown Scranton are now under new ownership. The big question is now whether downtown Scranton can support two luxury hotels in the near future. The impending completion of the Casey parking garage will certainly help, given that the lack of parking was the biggest complaint of the Hilton's previous management.

Some quickie research on hotels.com shows that the Hilton and Radisson are both in the $100-150 per room range, which is pretty goddamned pricey for a hotel in a small city. Especially given that the other two 3-star-rated hotels in the list have rooms starting at $57 and $89. Note that the Hilton Scranton is not rated, but I'm sure it would rate comparably. Also, I note that hotels.com listing is not aware of the fact that the Radisson has High-Speed Internet, which is rates as a pretty significant screaming red light to me.

So, we'll see if the various business travellers, and expatriates coming home to visit family can support the two biggie hotels. Or perhaps, some genius-level marketing will cause the "convention destination" plan to work out. Time will tell.

Leaving Las Vegas

I just got back from Las Vegas, without too much damage to the bank account.

I left the computer at home and have been spending the last few hours catching up on the blogosphere. There are a few new posts that will be going up shortly...

stay tuned!

Rove Testifying in Plame Case

Interesting development...via MSNBC

WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors have accepted an offer from presidential adviser Karl Rove to give 11th hour testimony in the case of a CIA officer's leaked identity but have warned they cannot guarantee he won't be indicted, according to people directly familiar with the investigation

[...]

The U.S. attorney's manual requires prosecutors not to bring witnesses before a grand jury if there is a possibility of future criminal charges unless they are notified in advance that their grand jury testimony can be used against them in a later indictment.

Rove has already made at least three grand jury appearances and his return at this late stage in the investigation is unusual.

The prosecutor did not give Rove similar warnings before his earlier grand jury appearances.

Is it possible there is still some semblance of justice in this world?

Bush Defends Miers Pick

Bush hosted a press conference today to defend picking Harriet Miers to the SCOTUS. To me, the key quote was:

Dismissing suggestions of cronyism, Bush said: “I picked the best person I could find.

A woman with absolutely no judicial experience was the best person he could find? That guy sure seems to have trouble finding things...WMD in Iraq, that Osama dude, Anthrax mailers.

I'm honestly not sure why he even pretends anymore. He might as well get up there and say: "I'm nominating this chick because I goddamn want to, bitches, and I'm the President so there ain't nuthin' you can do about it!" At this point, it would hardly even prompt me to raise an eyebrow.

I am, however, eagerly looking forward to seeing which well-connected, incompetent campaign contributor, or frat buddy he nominates to replace Greenspan next year. By design, they will have to be someone who's filed for personal bankruptcy protection at least twice, and who's key policy idea would be the Federal Ponzi Scheme Committee. (motto: "Everybody gets rich, except the last one in! Buy in NOW!")

*** Update(13:30) *** Okay, reading msnbc, I am informed that picking political friends for the Supreme Court has a long and storied past. Lincoln and LBJ did it, and my boy FDR did it twice. They also schooled me to the fact that Rehnquist, himself, also had no judicial experience prior to ascending to the SCOTUS. d00dz! I hereby throw in my hat for the next available supreme court slot! I would consider it a personal honor to be the first completely unqualified justice!

It's Like X-mas and my Birthday and Columbus Day, all rolled into one!!

Allow me to add to the chorus of giddy cheerleading that has sprung up far and wide across Left Blogtopia today. Today may well be the most joyus day for the last 5 years. Indeed, at this moment it seems that the chickens have come home to roost, the other shoe has dropped and "that" has been inserted into pipes and smoked. After years of shameless, undisguised corruption and cronyism, the wheels seem to be coming off the republican graft-mobile.

Let's review some of the fine events of this momentous day:

1. House Majority Leader Tom Delay has been indicted by a Texas Grand Jury on a conspiracy charge related to his campaign finance activities for TRMPAC. He has stepped down as majority leader, and is claiming this is all partisan politics.

2. On the other side of the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is being investigated by the SEC due to his apparent insider trading of his family's company HCA Inc. earlier this summer.

3. And crossing back over once again, a House panel was hearing pledges from government auditors that they will closely examine millions of dollars in contracts the Bush administration awarded to politically connected companies for Hurricane Katrina relief.

Lord knows I'm trying hard not to get too excited, here, but damn if right now I am not (to steal from atrios and The Editors) singing the "Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy" song while doing the Snoopy dance. After all these years of watching this go on, seeing some form of censure being levelled against these crooks is the best present anyone can give. Sigh.....!

Tom Delay Indicted

In a confirmation that there is still some justice in this world, the AP is reporting that Tom Delay has been indicted for the Campaign Finance probe.

Gorillaz - Demon Days Live

Your humble author was recently notified of the details regarding the planned Gorillaz live show at the Manchester Opera House, Nov 1st-5th. As of right now, there is no ability to purchase tickets, but the link is labelled "coming soon".

The timing of this event truly blows, since my schedule for the week is fairly well booked. However, I pass the information on to my readers since it's one of the few interesting scoops I have.

Enjoy.

In a world first, Gorillaz' smash hit second album Demon Days will be performed in its entirety across five consecutive nights (November 1st - 5th) at the Opera House, Manchester - as part of a series of trailblazing events ahead of the inaugural Manchester International Festival in late June and early July 2007.

The album's guest musicians will descend on Manchester to take on the task of recreating the three-million selling Demon Days live onstage. The two-dimensional band members will take a back seat as their musical collaborators are brought together for the first time ever, in five remarkable and unrepeatable performances. Guest musicians will include Happy Mondays front-man Shaun Ryder and UK hip hop artist Roots Manuva, with further names to be announced in the run-up to the event.

"I mean this event is the one and only time this is ever gonna happen, where we'll be able to bring together the 'Demon Days' guest performers along with these other musicians. So it's a definite one-off."Russel

***Update*** (3:15pm) From the official gorillaz site, we learn that tickets go on sale Oct. 3rd.

PeakOil - IMF Chimes in

In this kos diary, Jerome a Paris notes that the IMF has weighed in on the impending global oil peak.

IMF warns investment in oil production and refining is too low to reduce prices

In a draft of the main chapter of its World Economic Outlook, the IMF writes: "Based on current investment plans, production capacity is unlikely to grow enough to outpace future growth in consumption and create adequate spare capacity." (...)

The IMF's report, which will be published on Wednesday, says Opec's ability to lower prices is limited because its cushion of spare oil capacity has shrunk due to high demand, mainly from the US and China. The report predicts that the situation is unlikely to improve in the next five years.

As he points out: "Okay. so we now have the following companies and institutions on record about Peak oil: Chevron, ExxonMobil, the International Energy Agency, and the IMF." Peak Oil isn't just for Tinfoil Hatters anymore. And there are some major forces here, domestic and international, who are making some noise here. It's only a matter of time before the message finally gets some serious legs.

Technorati tag: peak oil

FSM - Interview with His Prophet

via eschaton, an interview with the One True Prophet of the Flying Spaghetti monster.

GM: When did you know you were the chosen Prophet for the great Flying Spaghetti Monster? Does He still speak to you?

BH: I had of course seen spaghetti several times throughout my life, but it wasn't until He revealed Himself to me and touched me with His Noodly Appendage that I knew I was Chosen. Does He still speak to me? If by that you mean "Do I hear voices in my head?" the answer is yes. Further evidence that He is near me abounds. I oftentimes find that I have made mistakes in my day-to-day activities. These, clearly, are the work of a mischievous Flying Spaghetti Monster, tampering with my work with His Noodly Appendage, purely for his own amusement.
...
GM: Is there any sort of structured ranking within Pastafarianism (i.e., other than The Prophet, are there any levels within the religion that parallel church official rankings)?

BH: There are rankings in the church, yes. Structured rankings, no. I have been told by Him that I am to procure a pirate ship of immense proportions and engage on a mission to spread his Word. The most endeared members of the church will be accompanying me. And in the case of female members, by "endeared" I of course mean "endowed".

Go. Read.

Peace be with you...ramen.

Bush using Katrina to push School Vouchers

It comes as no surprise, of course, but the BushAdmin is now attempting to use the Katrina relief efforts to push the classic republican wet dream of School Vouchers.

From the WaPo:

In proposing $1.9 billion in aid for kindergartners through 12th-graders whose schools were ruined by the storm, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings originally said the administration was setting aside $488 million for private-school tuition and other help, to re-create as normal an environment as possible for the uncommonly large segment of children from New Orleans who had attended Catholic schools.

Yesterday, however, as new fine print of the proposal emerged, White House and Education Department spokesmen confirmed that the government payment -- as much as $7,500 per child -- would be given for a year to any displaced family that now prefers an alternative to public schools. "Parents may choose to send children to private schools. They may not. But this is their choice," said Susan Aspey, the Education Department's spokeswoman.

Yes, let's please take the money out of our public schools and divert it to private schools. That's a surefire way to ensure that education in America is top-notch.

This subject has always held it's own particular place of hatred in my heart. If people who choose to send their children to private schools can have their tax dollars diverted away from the public education system since they're not using it, it only logically follows that childless people like myself should then have their school district taxes refunded, due to the fact that I'm not utilizing the services, no?

No, bitches! Shared sacrifice for the public good is how the system works. If you as a parent don't like the education available through public education, then work to make it better. If you still feel that you need to send your children off to a private school, fine, but don't expect to get pity from me about how much money you're spending.

Iraq - Ugliness in Basra

Earlier today, several news sources were reporting that two Britons were arrested in the Basra area for allegedly shooting two Iraqi policemen. This was quite a bit of a shocking news item, since the British-occupied Basra region has been much quieter than the....well...entire rest of the country.

So, just now, I decided to check and see what the updates on this story were. Apparently, according to MSNBC, there's a bit of some disagreement on exactly what happened, but it sounds like the two Britons have been released. According to the British government: "the two men were released as a result of negotiations." Ah, good. Glad to hear that's all settled up.

Oh, but the disagreement? Ah, yes:

British soldiers used 10 armored vehicles to break down the walls of the central jail in this southern city Monday and freed two Britons, allegedly undercover commandos arrested on charges of shooting two Iraqi policemen, witnesses said.

Well, sure...I mean really...."released after negotiations" versus "liberated by the use of military mechanized force storming and destroying the prison"..."po-TAY-toh", "po-TAH-toh."



There ain't a whole lot in the rest of the article that makes the British government's story sound terribly credible. And the pictures in the article aren't too pretty either.

I imagine now that there's some hard evidence showing exactly how sovereign the Iraqis' sovereignty really is, things are only likely to get more interesting.

***UPDATE(10:12pm)**** The Independent has a bit more info.

Saturday News Roundup

Since I seem to have less to say than usual, here's some of the more interesting news items today, from the nytimes:

1. Toyota is stating that they plan, for some not yet concrete future date, to eventually be making all of their vehicles as gas-electric hybrids. They say the key to achieving this goal will be halving the current $3000-5000 premium brought on by the cost of the hybrid technologies. Though they can't yet come up with a target date, they're only shooting for one million hybrids by 2010, so presumably it's going to be significantly past that date. If that stated goal correctly sums up their position, it sounds like they're not expending too much energy examining hydrogen power technologies.

2. Some senior republican congresscritters are joining in the calls for CIA Director Porter Goss to release an internal report which "criticizes his predecessor, George J. Tenet, and others for lapses on terrorism in advance of the Sept. 11 attacks." The article seems to indicate that this report is fairly damning of the Tenet-led CIA, and that Goss is reluctant to release it because of concerns that the release "could be damaging to the agency's morale." I find it interesting that there is now some bi-partisan support for the public release of the report.

3. Four years on, the search for the Anthrax mailer appears to be stalled. The article discusses the lengths to which investigators have gone in order to try and track down the origins of the anthrax bacteria, paper, and photocopiers used by the mailer. The point is also made that many of the people involved in the search are highly committed to catch the culprit, because, without an eventual arrest, it certainly seems like it would embolden others to try a similar tactic. Hell, frankly, I'm a little surprised that we haven't heard of some well-connected wacko who tried something similar.

4. Finally, the White House has approved NASA's plan for the next generation of space exploration vehicles which would be desinged using exiting technologies currently in place on the shuttles. Re-use of the existing technologies will clearly allow for a quicker, cheaper transition to the new vehicles. Let's hope NASA has a sense of which technologies merit re-use, as opposed to the ones that tend to blow shit up.

Musicblogging - Spookie Daly Pride

Since we didn't have anything planned last night, my girlfriend mentioned that she had seen in the local weekly entertainment paper that Spookie Daly Pride was playing at a nearby club. I had not heard of them, but a google search returned a page from jambase.com, and that fact piqued my interest sufficiently. "What the hell?" I figured,"I'm always up for seeing a good jammy band. Even if they suck, it should still be worth checking out."

Yeah, so they blew me away. They had a pretty ecclectic sound that mostly centers on a 70s-groove/funk kind of aesthetic. On their website, they mentioned that they're frequently compared to the Muppet Show Band, and I'll agree that there's some merit to that. They're a foursome with standard guitar, bass, drums, and Mr. Spooky Daly, himself, on piano, vocals, and general frontman zaniness.

The key thing about their show, which is going to sound totally cliche, was that they performed with serious infectious energy. I was dancing like a fool on my barstool for most of the show. And they played with a healthy dose of "wacky" which rounded the experience out nicely.

I'm not sure if the alcohol kicked in as the night went on, but they definitely sounded sloppy for the first half of the show, but then tightened up proper! I'm listening to their "Marshmallow Pie" CD right now, and as with any recording, it doesn't begin to capture the spirit of the live show, but it does give a good overview of the music and songwriting.

Mergenow's overall rating: These guys kick ass, check them out if you get a chance.

Google blogsearch

I may be a little behind on this one, but google has finally launched their blogs-only search engine.... http://blogsearch.google.com

It searches all blog platforms, not just blogger/blogspot-based weblogs. You'll also notice a new "search all blogs" button in the blogger toolbar, which is a feature that is not a moment too late.

...and as a bonus for exitramp, google finally returns more than one or two results for searches on our content!! w00t!!

Life Imitates the Onion - Gillette

It almost ceases to be interesting, but I'm going to refer back to a classic opinion article from The Onion on Feb 18, 2004.

Well, f#ck it. We're going to five blades.
By James M. Kilts
CEO and President,
The Gillette Company

Would someone tell me how this happened? We were the f#cking vanguard of shaving in this country. The Gillette Mach3 was the razor to own. Then the other guy came out with a three-blade razor. Were we scared? Hell, no.

Today, MSNBC is reporting that:
Gillette ups the ante, unveils 5-blade razor

I guess I should keep in mind all of The Onion articles that didn't come to pass in a year or two, and be grateful.

Guantanamo Lifers:"The Caf Sucks!"

In order to make sure this one doesn't get swept under the carpet, I wanted to remind all four of my gentle readers that a bunch of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay are on hunger strike. Since August 8th, CNN reports 128 of the more than 500 prisoners are now on hunger strike.

Ignoring the personal opinions that creep into a situation in which the U.S. Government imprisons people without due process, and restricted access to legal counsel, the article has two key quotes:

But Bush administration officials have defended Guantanamo Bay. Vice President Dick Cheney said in June that the U.S. Guantanamo policy "is the correct one" and that all detainees are "treated with respect and dignity."

I'm sure all of the prisoners applaud this arrangement, including the inevitable random "wrong-place-at-the-wrong-timers" who have yet to have yet to be charged.

However, the key quote from the article has to be:

"Regulations are the same at Guantanamo as they are in the U.S. prison system, and prisoners will not be allowed to kill themselves by starving themselves," a Pentagon official said.

Thank Heavens, we've got some working regulations over there. It's comforting to know that people stuck in a prison camp without formal charges or any apparent hope of getting out anytime soon will not be allowed to run amok and kill themselves via starvation. It brings me a certain amount of assurance to know the ChimpAdmin has something under control.

If only we could apply the same standards to the victims of Katrina that we do to detainees in our disturbing extra-legal prison camps....then we'd seriously be on to something.

NEPAblogging - Local Politics Goes all Springer

Just when I thought local politics was getting completely boring, today we discover that there's some serious "You ain't gonna get my man, girl!" action happening in Scranton City government.

Two city agencies Monday delivered nine boxes of documents copied for over $3,000 to City Council in response to a subpoena sought by Councilwoman Janet Evans for information on the foreclosed Hilton Scranton and Conference Center.

In a letter to Mrs. Evans, first assistant city solicitor Eugene Hickey maintained the subpoena was issued illegally, but he said the city’s economic development office agreed to comply “to appease you and to avoid further conflict.”

He said the office sent eight boxes of documents because the subpoena request was so broad. The Scranton Parking Authority sent one box.

“Quite simply, the subpoena issuance was a waste of time and apparently done solely for political purposes rather than legitimate city business,” Mr. Hickey said.

D00dz!! When did reading the Times-Tribune get as interesting as watching Elimidate?

City Solicitor Hickey:"Take that, bee-yotch!! You think you all that, but you ain't shit, girl!"
Councilwoman Evans:"Nuh-uh, girl...you ain't nuthin' but a dirty Ho, y'all!"

If only this wasn't all being played out at the expense of my tax dollars, I'd be completely stoked!! I can hardly wait for the "Winner Takes Her Man" no-holds-barred Mud Wrestling cage match that is sure to follow!!

The Poor Man Funnies

I'm in class all week, so the posting will likely be extra-super light. However, I couldn't resist pointing out for everyone the sublime comedy with which The Editors have graced us:

Q: What’s George Bush’s position on Roe v. Wade?

A: He really doesn’t care how people get out of New Orleans.

Enjoy!

NEPA Blogging - County Courthouse Plans Scrapped

Pretend for a moment that you are a County Commissioner who won election on a promise to reduce taxes by 25%, but after much review and auditing, you find yourself in a situation in which you have to instead increase taxes by nearly 50%. As should be expected, that announcment is treated with much criticism and complaint. When it comes time to come up with a plan for much-needed renovations to the county courthouse, one of your key stated objectives, do you:

a.) Embark on a modest rehabilitation project, with an eye towards keeping those costs under control.
b.) Utilize any of the many vacant offices which sit across the street from the courthouse square as temporary office space for departments displaced during construction.
c.) Plan a $48.5 Million dollar project (amounting to approx. 50% of the county's total budgeted outlay for the current year) which includes two brand new wings, and meantime enter into what appears to be an uncompetitive sweetheart deal with the owner of a landmark building downtown, who also happens to owe almost $270,000 in back taxes on said building.

If you said (c.) you might be the current Lackawanna County Commissioners. You'd get along well with them, at the very least.


Crazy-ass plans notwithstanding, the County Commissioners relented today, in face of much criticism (mine here) over the plans, and have opted to go with a less-ambitious $15 million dollar plan. For some reason, however, the one element of the original plan which they've retained is the intent to move the main entrance away from the architecturally-implied main entrance, and over to Linden Street, where the soon-to-be-demolised 60s-era annex currently is. They've got some sort of serious obsession with having the main entrance on the side of the building, I tell ya.