pssst! Ray!

If you'd stop saying stupid shit, you could stop apologizing.

Oh well. At least he apologized.

Posted by: Ace at 09:05 AM | Comments (18)
Post contains 28 words, total size 1 kb.

Blame Bush:

Hiring perked up in August as employers added 128,000 jobs, pulling down the unemployment rate to 4.7 percent, sending a Labor Day message that the economic expansion still has staying power.

The latest snapshot, released by the Labor Department Friday, was a bit brighter than expected and should ease any fears that the expansion that began in late 2001 is not in danger of fizzling out.

The tally of new jobs last month was slightly stronger than the 125,000 that economists were forecasting. The nation's unemployment rate dropped down a notch from a five-month high of 4.8 percent in July. Job gains for June and July also turned out to be better than previously estimated. In June, employers boosted payrolls by 134,000 positions and in July they added another 121,000.

As usual.

And, by the way, that crap about stagnant wages?

Workers' average hourly earnings edged up to $16.79 in August, a 0.1 percent increase from July. Economists were forecasting a bigger, 0.3 percent advance. While workers welcome strong wage growth, economists worry that a rapid and prolonged pickup in wages can ignite inflation fears.

Over the 12 months ending August, wages grew by a strong 3.9 percent. The last time this figure was higher was in June 2001.

Click for some more cowbell.

"I used to touch Alan Greenspan like this."

-- "I know, he told me."

"He told you?"

Posted by: Ace at 08:22 AM | Comments (55)
Post contains 255 words, total size 2 kb.

Well, no wonder his wife sent him to Niger a second time. He had proven so effective in missing fairly obvious uranium sales before, he was the perfect incompetent for 2003 frame-up.

A.Q. Kahn, the Nuclear Johnny Appleseed of Pakistan, visits a country whose only two exports are uranium and goats and pronounces A.Q. Kahn just plum fascinated by goats.

To borrow Gene Simmon's kid's joke, Joe Wilson couldn't find yeast in a vagina storm.

Thanks to Larwyn.

More... The rightwing rag Washington Post declares L'Affaire Wilson a non-story, and Joe Wilson a liar.

Posted by: Ace at 07:39 AM | Comments (33)
Post contains 122 words, total size 1 kb.

Australia, where the wine is cheaper than water, and where a tank of gas comes with a 'round the world. Fill 'er up:

Hot and bothered by rising pump prices? Australian brothels are offering clients discounts based on their gas bills.

Brothel owners claim the system works much the same way as supermarkets which offer shoppers discounted gas prices by presenting their grocery bills when they fill up their tanks.

"If you come in and spend time with one of our lovely ladies, we'll give you a discount of 20 cents a liter," Kerry, manager of Sydney brothel The Site, told Reuters Wednesday.

There is no link between brothels, petrol providers or supermarkets but brothels like The Site and Madame Kerry's say the system is simple.

Once you've filled up your car, bring your receipt to the brothel and they'll discount the price of your visit.

Honey, I swear, I was just there for the discount. They had a two sixty-nine special. You keep telling me to save money, right?

Thanks to Staphanie Rants Against the Machine. Who still has that college football poll goin'.

Bonus Cool Fact About Being An Australian: You just might get to go to you prom with Australia's Miss Universe entrant.

Posted by: Ace at 07:30 AM | Comments (27)
Post contains 222 words, total size 2 kb.

Should anthropologists assist the U.S. government?

In a hypothetical situation where the Pentagon asks you for information about a tribe or group you have studied, the information provided could lead to good or harm — and the decision not to provide information might lead the government to take a harmful action as well, said James L. Peacock, a professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and chair of the new committee. “That’s the dilemma. If you abstain from providing information and something happens, is that ethical? But if you become implicated, is that ethical?”

Peacock, who studies Muslim groups in Indonesia, has never worked for the U.S. government, but the associationÂ’s committee includes some scholars who have.

David Price, an anthropology professor at Saint Martin’s University, in Washington State, and also a member of the committee, said that his main concern is secrecy. He said that he would be inclined to answer questions from an intelligence agency — provided he had permission to post online everything he said once the meeting was over. The way to protect the interests of the people being studied is to keep everything in the open, he said.

“My feeling is that anthropologists’ primary ethical contract is with the people they study. Their loyalty to their government has to come after their ethical obligation to the people they study,” he said.

I am not a 'my country right or wrong' type of person. I recognize that the U.S. is not always right, and I am willing to criticize the government when I believe they are engaged in wrong actions. However, I am well aware of how much this country has given me. Living here gives me opportunities I would not otherwise have had, and I am grateful for that and do feel a sense of obligation to help further the interests of the United States when I can.

A certain segment of the left - artists, journalists, faculty - seem to believe that the phrase 'citizen of the world' actually has some real meaning. They act in ways that they believe benefit 'the global community' and do so regardless of whether their actions harm their country of origin. This 'citizen of the world' concept is all nonsense - it's the sort of mindless pablum that fits on a bumper sticker. There is no "world constitution" that gives them freedom - their rights are all a result of their citizenship in a country whose founding fathers felt individual rights were important enough to place in our written constitution.

It's both sad and infuriating that instead of being grateful for what they have received and helping where they can, people in those professions use their freedom to assist those for whom freedom is a foreign concept.

Do I think that faculty should be compelled to work on behalf of the government? No. However, I do wonder at the sort of ingratitude that leads one to believe the freedom given to us natural freedoms guaranteed protection by this country are best used to serve the interests (by omission in this case) of those who are working to destroy it.

Posted by: Slublog at 05:49 AM | Comments (36)
Post contains 562 words, total size 3 kb.