December 2007 archive

Dec 21 2007

No I Don’t ACCEPT the license agreement

By Lasthorseman

Four hours. Piece of crap, 2nd attempt to install software. Crashed halfway through on the first attempt. FT4KL-TQC2-PZ48B-QM666-SEIG-HEIL-666.

“You may now activate your software via the internet”.

I think not, last time I did that it wiped out three highly useful engineering progams and I spent three days on the phone trying to restore. Even the techno-geeks didn’t have an answer. Felt like an idiot trying to run something in the lab that ran just fine last week. NPI,negative productivity intitative.

This company gives you “upgrades” four times a year. It was a good thing though as the email saying not to install the latest “upgrade” actually preceeded receipt of the “upgrade”.

http://people.csail.mit.edu/ra…

No, I actually don’t care if it comes from a “hatter site”, I fully take every word as Gospel. Am I smarter than Huckabee?

Lucky I’m not in charge, these people, far from Boy Scouts would get anti-trusted into oblivion. IMHO no other “industry” does more in supporting the subliminal aspects of citizens non-participation in bettering their community life.

http://www.infowars.net/articl…

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new…

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pag…

http://prisonplanet.com/articl…

What is real? Well HR 1955 and S 1959, our permanently, positively,prepetually, post 911 world.

More real is an Apocalyptic horse in a lope on 14 inches of new snow.

Business Software Alliance, msm

Dec 21 2007

Pony Party… Delayed For No Good Reason

By RiaD

very very sorry this is so late…

i’m still ailing…

carry on

12 comments

Dec 21 2007

Iraqi Teachers’ Strike, and Other Notes on Life in Iraq

By LithiumCola in Iraq

Given the US media blackout on the lives of ordinary Iraqis, we have to go elsewhere to get an idea of what life is like there.

McClatchy’s blog for their Iraqi reporters is one of the few places I know of where we still get something like unfiltered accounts of life in Iraq, for Iraqis.

Did you know that teachers recently went on strike?

December 18, 2007

Teachers’ Strike

For the first time, teachers feel that their union has remembered its staff and it starts working for them.

The teachers’ union called for a strike two weeks ago to be for one simple day put Sunday 16th of this recent month as a start demanding all teachers of the fifteen Iraqi provinces ( without the other three provinces in Kurdistan region in the north of Iraq) to take part in it. As this step is for the benefit of them , teachers of Basra, Anbar , Mosul , Baghdad and the other provinces in the south , west , east and centre of Iraq carried it out hoping to get its result so soon.

The aim of this strike is to make those teachers of the south and centre of Iraq in a balance with those teachers in Kurdistan region by having the same salaries and privilege. Teachers in Kurdistan get double and they reach triple the salaries of those in all over the country. The question is why we have this double standard in dealing with teachers.

— snip —

5 comments

Dec 20 2007

You Talkin to Me? You Talkin to Me?

By davidseth

The Garifuna people of Belize and Guatemala have a very special culture and a very special language. In fact, the men have a language for speaking to men, and the women have a language for speaking to women. Specifically

One interesting feature of Garifuna is a vocabulary split between terms used only by men and terms used only by women. This does not however affect the entire vocabulary but when it does, the terms used by men generally come from Carib and those used by women come from Arawak.

When Garifuna people speak to each other, they are consciously aware of whom they are speaking with and they know what language is appropriate.

Which brings me to the US and the separate languages used in the US in political discourse. The right and its media refer to “harsh interrogation” techniques. The left should refer to “torture.” The right and its media refer to “extraordinary renditions”. The left should refer to “kidnappings” and “illegal extraditions.” The right wing refers to “illegal immigrants.” The left should say “undocumented workers.” You get the idea. I could go on and on. Suffice it to say that the traditional media almost always use the right wing language. The left wing language can be found in some places in Leftblogistan, but even there the right wing language frequently infiltrates the discussion.

So I have made a late 2007 early 2008 resolution. When discussing the political issues surrounding the abridgment of the US Constitution and US policy, I am no longer going to use any of the right wing vocabulary. In fact, I am going to ferret out all right wing language and substitute other, clearer, more precise words in my writing and discourse.

I am convinced that when I drop right wing language it will immediately make it clear that I am no longer indulging in the same incorrect assumptions as those who speak the right wing language. And my new choice of words will, I hope, cut through all of the pernicious verbal forms our traditional media persist in serving up. This can only lead to increased clarity and precision. And it can only end the prevalence of that fuzzy code the right wing speaks to us to subvert our own expressions.

Want to join me in this? I hope so.

Dec 20 2007

Four at Four

By Magnifico in News

Some news and the afternoon’s open thread.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Democrats blame Republicans for making them govern like… Republicans. The Democrats’ “approval of a bill giving Bush funds for a war they oppose helps sum up their 2007 congressional record… Democratic leaders left the Capitol complaining that much of their agenda had been thwarted by congressional Republicans who repeatedly stopped their most cherished initiatives. ‘We could have accomplished so much more,’ said a rueful Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.”

Not everyone is unhappy with the Capitulation Congress. The Hill reports Bush praises Congress. “Bush on Thursday praised leaders from both parties for passing key bills prior to the end of the congressional session and refused to gloat even though Democratic leaders caved to many of the White House’s demands. Bush said the country can be proud of Congress’s action over the past few days, lauding the legislature for fending off the Alternative Minimum Tax, improving energy security and funding the war in Iraq.”
The Washington Post asks Will enough men vote for Hillary Clinton? “In Iowa, Clinton’s support among male Democratic caucus goers lags behind Barack Obama, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. In New Hampshire, she’s doing better among male Democrats, but she faces questions about her candor. Half of men say she’s not willing to say what she really thinks… Nationally, her gender gap among Democrats is smaller, the poll shows, but some analysts suggest that these numbers are not strong enough for a general election, because a majority of male independents view her unfavorably… Women’s rights advocates attribute male skepticism about Clinton to long-ingrained sexism — and a sense that men, no matter what they say, just aren’t ready for a female president… But in several interviews with Democratic men across the country, the stated reasons for their aversion to Clinton seem more complicated, and in many cases, far more visceral than substantive.”
I have a ten-year-old car that is really starting to show signs of its age. I am loathe to buy a replacement vehicle because I should drive less as it is, lack of money, and auto companies are truly environmental bad guys. Yesterday, the enviro-terrorist Bush administration’s EPA forbade California from having stricter automobile CO2 emissions standards — a gift to the dying Detroit automakers.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reports Europe proposes binding limits on auto emissions. “European Union officials told leading automakers… to make deep cuts in tailpipe emissions of the cars they produce or face fines that could reach billions of euros. Companies including Volkswagen and Renault immediately promised a fight to weaken the proposed legislation, saying that compliance would be difficult and that it would hurt their competitiveness around the world… The rules would apply to new cars sold in the 200 billion euro ($288 billion) auto market, including those sold by manufacturers based in the United States, Japan and South Korea… None of the 17 major manufacturers selling cars in Europe, including producers of smaller vehicles like Fiat, currently meet the proposed targets.” The automakers are only profitable because they do not have to pay for the greenhouse gas emissions their products produce. The full cost of automobiles are not being addressed.
Can you smell the “democracy” in action? The AP reports New Orleans police go Taser-crazy at City Hall. “Police used chemical spray and stun guns Thursday as dozens of protesters seeking to halt the demolition of 4,500 public housing units tried to force their way through an iron gate at City Hall. One woman was sprayed with chemicals and dragged from the gates. She was taken away on a stretcher by emergency officials. Before that, the woman was seen pouring water from a bottle into her eyes and weeping. Another woman said she was stunned by officers, and still had what appeared to be a Taser wire hanging from her shirt.” WWL-TV reports “SWAT teams and vans with riot gear were sent to City Hall”.

Dec 20 2007

I Might Be Movin To Montana Soon….

By buhdydharma

“We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us,”

Russell Means

The Lakota Nation includes parts of the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

As far as I know, Means does NOT represent the official Lakota Tribal government. And is of course, quite a, shall we say, controversial figure. Technically and legally and practically, this is probably not much more than a publicity stunt….but it is a damn good one! IF there are no repercussions.

The Lakota Freedom Delegation website returns an “exceeded bandwidth” message right now…this is big news!

27 comments

Dec 20 2007

The Death Of Democratic Party Opposition

By buhdydharma

To no one’s great surprise, the Democrats once again have given George Bush a blank check for the Iraq Occupation.

This represents a direct lie from Nancy Pelosi.

“Our chairman of our committee, and it’s my view as well, that we shouldn’t even take up a bill without a fixed date for us to come home.”

(Read the link, and the link within the link, for the full context)

Is there a chance that after this latest betrayal they will ever vote…or not vote…to end the occupation? They were already in too deep as it was, this latest travesty cements it. The Democrats were elected to end he war, the Democrats had the power to end the war, the Democrats have chosen not to end the war.

A miserable cowardly failure of a direct mission mandated by the American People in the ’06 elections. There are no excuses that are even close to sufficient.

There really is nothing left to say.

Except, what now?

23 comments

Dec 20 2007

How can we demand courage from our leaders when we have so little?

By snackdoodle in Barack Obama

Cross posted at KOS

How can we demand courage from our leader when we have so little?

How can we continue to support candidates who do not support us NOW?

How can we uphold the Constitution when we allow others to abrogate our most important responsibility, our vote?

How can we beg for change when we cannot face change?

How can we save the planet when we cannot save ourselves?

Follow me below the fold and I will give you my take on why who and what we are can be another recipe for a continuing disaster.

Bill Richardson, candidates, caucuses, change, Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich, Hillary Clinton, Iowa, Joe Biden, John Edwards, Primaries, progressive
9 comments

Dec 20 2007

Pony Party…headache

By Turing Test

I gotta migraine… almost missed doing this 🙁

Dec 20 2007

don’t touch me don’t touch me don’t touch me

By notlightnessofbeing in Art

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His hair was long and stringy, he lifted weights, he had a twitch….

Dec 20 2007

don’t touch me don’t touch me don’t touch me

By notlightnessofbeing

His hair was long and stringy, he lifted weights, he had a twitch….

1 comments

Dec 20 2007

U.S. Comedian P.A.C. Endorses Huckabee

By Zwoof

BURBANK, CA. At a press conference today from Beautiful Downtown Burbank, The Unknown Comic announced the formation of a Political Action Committee comprised of many of America’s foremost comics.

“Individually, we cannot endorse a candidate as we have each sworn to uphold the Comedicratic Oath to ridicule every politician equally. But as a group we can anonymously support Mike Huckabee, and therefore have formed The United Professional Comedians for Huckabee. (U.P.C.HUCK)

He’s a Godsend!”