May 17, 2009
— Gabriel Malor If I'm reading the schedule right, the ceremonies begin at 2:00pm Eastern. The President will be speaking some time after that. Police have already started arresting protesters and I'm sure you can imagine what the Lefty response to that would have been if Booosh had done it.
I've already said what I have to say about a nominally Catholic university honoring a pro-abortion speaker. Barring any truly unusual disruption today, I expect the whole thing to be "old news"--even for Catholics--by next week. Notre Dame is going to want to put this behind it as is the President. The media will oblige.
All the cable news networks are covering commencement, but if you're stuck at a computer and you want to see Obama's speech, it will be livecast at the Notre Dame website.
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08:03 AM
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— Purple Avenger XINHUA announces the Chinese have developed a new secure operating system called KYLIN.
The Washington times wrote this doomsday piece about the dire cyber-security threat from KYLIN that will harden their defenses and make them impenetrable to our existing suite of soft target attacks designed around Windows, Linux and Mac targets.
Ziff-Davis however, presents a more sober analysis and pretty much says "meh".
Apparently, this dreaded new threat, is essentially a translated version of FreeBSD 5.3 based on a kernel analysis.
Linux has its Tux Penguin mascot, right? What's Kylin's mascot? That's right -- the unicorn. OK, its a diamond hard crystalline unicorn, but its still a freaking unicorn.
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07:43 AM
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May 16, 2009
— Open Blog You know the drill by now:
Item #1: Stumbled across this while looking for something else (busty lesbians) today. Figured with summer approaching and whatnot it might be a good link so we could all feel nostalgic as well as really really old. ItÂ’s a site called Drive-Ins.com which surprisingly coversÂ…Drive-Ins (Theaters, not restaurants, numbnuts. Learn to read my mind or go play in one of GabeÂ’s posts.) NowÂ’s your chance to tell us in the comments below all about whatever warm and fuzzy/seedy and terrifying experiences youÂ’ve had while visiting one of these vanishing pieces of Americana in the past. The site contains a lot of historical facts and stuff and supposedly has a database of 5000 former and existing drive-ins so you can go look up whatever drive-in you hung out at and were nearly abducted at as a kid.
Item#2: If you did manage to survive until puberty without being abducted at a drive-in theater, you probably went on to do much more productive things with your life. Such as hanging out at shopping malls. Sadly though, sometimes malls die and go off to mall heaven. But at DeadMalls you can read their obituaries along with accounts of those that are still pathetically clinging to life. (My own old haunt, Crossroads Mall in Oklahoma City, is one of the latter. Used to be a pretty classy place, but now most of the anchor stores have abandoned it and itÂ’s been overrun with gangs.) Now go send your condolences and thanks for all those good times you had wandering around in VictoriaÂ’s Secret and trying to hit on the cashier at Chick-Fil-A when you were a zit-festooned 14 year old.
Item #3 LetÂ’s wrap it up with this Gizmodo article about the new speed record for jet-packs. (ItÂ’s a lot lower than you think).
More nostalgia below the fold in the form of a music video. Well, except for the fact that the “video” part is just a still shot. You’ll get over it I’m sure.
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— LauraW Gosh, why on Earth did they stop allowing fans to bring their own beers to the infield party?
The policy change was designed to create a different environment in the anything-goes infield, where fans running atop the portable toilets became stars in YouTube videos and others lobbed full cans of beer at one another. It created a sometimes-dangerous scene -- one that was not particularly inviting for families or anyone without a helmet.
The Running Of The Portapotties. Quite the tradition.
Hubby said to me tonight (with an edge of masculine pride in his voice): "MEN invented that. That idea would never occur to a woman."
Indeed.
Indeed.
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04:26 PM
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— Gabriel Malor Somebody emailed me this story last week before the judge had ruled, but I wanted to see how it turned out. The short background is that a thirteen year-old Minnesota boy with HodgkinÂ’s lymphoma, one of the most curable forms of cancer, decided to refuse chemo after his first treatment sucked so much. His parents supported his decision even though it gives him only a five percent chance of survival.
Of course, child protective services caught wind of that (maybe the doctors called them), and sued to force the boy to continue treatment with chemo and radiation. As if this wasn't enough of a mess, the boy and his parents defended their decision not to continue treatment on religious grounds.
The boy claims that he is a medicine man and church elder in an American Indian religious organization called Nemenhah. His parents joined the movement, although they donÂ’t claim to be Indians. They're also Catholic.
So there are lots of juicy issues here including parental rights, religious rights, medical control, and alternative medicine. The Minnesota judge ruled yesterday that the state's interest in protecting the child overrides the constitutional right to freedom of religious expression and a parent's right to direct a child's upbringing. The judge also ruled that state laws which require that parents give their children "necessary medical care" are not met by alternative medicine.
The judge also discovered that the boy at 13 cannot read or write. The final order allows the boy to stay with his parents, provided they complete the medical procedures recommended by the boy's doctors.
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02:29 PM
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— DrewM Sure Obama rolled Republicans on the so-called "stimulus" with an "I won" but now he's going to be hailed as Mr. Post Partisan again for this little bit of theater.
President Barack Obama reached across the political divide Saturday and named Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, a possible GOP White House contender and top John McCain supporter, to the sensitive diplomatic post of U.S. ambassador to China....Fluent in Mandarin Chinese from his days as a Mormon missionary in Taiwan, the 49-year-old Huntsman is a popular two-term governor who served in both Bush administrations and was national co-chairman of Arizona Sen. McCain's campaign against Obama last year. Huntsman has made a name for himself advocating a moderate agenda in one of the nation's most conservative states.
Until this appintment, Huntsman had been considered a likely 2012 candidate for the Republican nomination for President (he recently had begun working with former McCain adviser John Weaver). David Ploufe recently identified Huntsman as the kind of Republican who could challenge Obama in '12.
"I think the one person in that party who might be a potential presidential candidate is Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah,"
So, is it post-partisan or an attempt to sideline a challenger? Of course it's a little of both.
Given Huntsman's desire to move the party along a more a squishy, moderate path on issues such as 'cap and trade', I think conservatives owe Obama a big thank you.
Smart Play for Huntsman? [ace] Every governor running for President gets dogged with the "no foreign policy experience" thing. Not so anymore for Huntsman.
Also, an ambassador is a pretty non-ideological sort of post. One can imagine Huntsman getting in trouble with the base by carrying out Obama's policy in China... but one can only barely imagine it. You never hear about most ambassadors at all. Even in a crisis, because in a crisis, the President and his team tend to get personally involved and the ambassador becomes pretty much a glad-hander.
So the strong odds are that Huntsman will come out of this with the "foreign policy experience" box checked off on his c.v., and without too much damage suffered by being one of Obama's ambassadors. He'll be mistrusted for agreeing to work with Obama at all, but there probably won't be anything critics can point to specifically to say "You sold us out on that."
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07:33 AM
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— Dave in Texas The Pelosi kabuki continues, courtesy NYT and of course, the CIA, who occasionally take umbrage at being called liars by the second person in line behind Joe Bob Biden.
After many failed efforts, Republicans have finally found a weak spot in Nancy PelosiÂ’s leathery neck armor, which heretofore has cast off spears and daggers, her shield shining in the sun as a fight over detainee interrogations engulfs Ms. Pelosi, Republicans and intelligence officials.
Quick read, may have flubbed an adjective or two.
For some reason unknown to the story line, Republicans are completely engulfed in this scandal too.
Mystery, that.
Posted by: Dave in Texas at
06:09 AM
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May 15, 2009
— Gabriel Malor Heh. I have trouble getting worked up over this because it seems like the stun-gunning was consensual. Also hilarious:
A total of 43 children were directly and indirectly shocked by electric stun guns during simultaneous ''Take Your Sons and Daughters to Work Day'' events gone wrong at three state prisons, according to new information provided Friday by the Florida Department of Corrections.Also, a group of kids was exposed to tear gas during a demonstration at another lockup.
Three prison guards have been fired, two have resigned and 16 more employees -- from corrections officers to a warden -- will be disciplined due to the incidents that unfolded April 23, said DOC Secretary Walt McNeil. An investigation is ongoing.
None of the children in any of the incidents required medical attention or was notably harmed, McNeil said. He said the children, who ranged in age from 5 to 17, were all children of prison officials.
Be honest now, when you were a kid you would have thought it was pretty cool to get stun-gunned on a field trip, right?
McNeil repeatedly stressed that the stun-gunning only happened at three of the 55 institutions and that it wasn't part of a widespread practice. Still, he acknowledged that it was ''logical'' to assume other children had been shocked on other take-your-kids-to-work days.So far this year, none of the devices have been used on the 100,000 prison inmates -- only the children of DOC workers.
Come on, now, that's funny.
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09:29 PM
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— Open Blog Item #1: ABC News (Australia) delivers a story from China about a new sex-themed park in Chongquing. Apparently not everyoneÂ’s on board with the idea though:
”A sex theme park in south-west China that exhibits naked human sculptures, giant genitals and boasts a sex technique workshop is stirring up howls of protest, state press said. "Love Land", billed as China's first-ever sex theme park, is slated to open in Chongqing municipality in October, but detractors hope the project will never see the light of day, the China Daily reported.”
However, if it does manage to get built, it looks like theyÂ’re going to have some pretty good attractions there. Can Disneyland match this?:
”Besides displays on sex history and techniques, the park boasts a giant rotating statue of the lower portion of a nearly naked woman bent over at the waist.”
Item #2: Over at Cracked.com they have posted 17 More Images You WonÂ’t Believe ArenÂ’t Photoshopped. Trippy stuff as always.
Item #3: Finally, I donÂ’t recall if anyoneÂ’s posted this yet, but ABC is rolling out a new animated series by Mike Judge called The Goode Family. HereÂ’s the premise and main characters from the Wikipedia article on it:
”The Goode Family is an obsessively "green" family who live a politically correct lifestyle. The reason why their last name is Goode is because they are always trying to do good. For example, they reuse their shopping bags, drive hybrid cars, recycle, etc. They are also vegans.”
“Gerald Goode (Mike Judge) is an administrator at a community college. He comes from a "long line of over-educated academic liberals". Helen Goode (Nancy Walls) is Gerald’s wife, a local activist. The Goodes have an adopted son, Ubuntu (David Herman) who is from Africa. They also have a biological daughter named Bliss (Linda Cardellini); she often disagrees with her parents, and sometimes pokes some holes in their world views. The family dog, Che, is also vegan: he craves meat and often tries to eat neighborhood animals and pets.”
ItÂ’ll of course be hilarious and spot-on as it skewers the Left, so I give it 3 weeks before itÂ’s cancelled. Thanks to Matt Miller for passing this along. Below the fold is additional video and an interview with Mike Judge about the series.
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06:07 PM
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— Dave in Texas Ok, not so much.
Mr Obama halted the controversial military commissions as one of his first acts on taking office in January, saying the US was entering a new era of respecting human rights."It's disappointing that Obama is seeking to revive rather than end this failed experiment," said Jonathan Hafetz, a national security attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union.
"There is no detainee at Guantanamo who cannot be tried and shouldn't be tried in the regular federal courts system. This is perpetuating the Bush administration's misguided detention policy."
Kenneth Roth, head of Human Rights Watch, said: "By resurrecting this failed Bush administration idea, President Obama is backtracking dangerously on his reform agenda."
I think the problem here is a failure to communicate. They are going to get new special protections now (i.e. impossible to convict rules in a court of law, back me up lawyers), with these military trials. Not that effed up Bush/Cheney "justice".
That makes it all better. So tell these naysayers to shush their whore mouths already.
New and improved. It's an extra dollop of caring and respectfulness. Bound to improve our image in the world.
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05:06 PM
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