Wince!!

Just in the past couple of weeks, there have been a couple of high-profile Austinites in the news, and first of all, I must say... I apologize. Please don't judge the rest of us based on a few big-time stinkers.

The first embarrassment is Alex Jones. You may have heard some of his bad crazy on the topic of guns via the rant on Piers Morgan. The Young Turks provide the highlight reel below. This is some really far out craziness:


Alex Jones is an Austin-based conspiracy theorist of THE most wild-eyed over-the-top variety. His website is InfoWars and his shows are called Prison Planet TV. His product is massive paranoia, and a lot of people are buying that nowadays.

The other local chaff is Lance Armstrong. He lives not even a mile from my commuter road. The level of excitement, admiration and inspiration that he brought to people with his amazing performance on the bike - coupled with being a cancer survivor who established a force for good such as the Livestrong Foundation - it was amazing. There have been plenty of athletes disgraced by steroids before, and we are all getting used to that kind of disappointment. I went through that whole Mark McGwire roller coaster when I lived in St. Louis, same kind of thing, but the added cancer-related part of the story elevated Lance to a much higher place in the public's eyes.

Some Livestrong participant/supporter postcards displayed.

Plus, he was just so damned convincing in the lies that most people refused to even entertain the accusations as anything more than mean-spirited jealousy... until they just wouldn't go away, the wheels started to come off. Trouble is, he didn't just wreck himself, his fall injures so many more - folks who really don't need anything else beating down their hopes and dreams.

This is being written the night before the 2-part Oprah confession is revealed, and I am interested in what he is going to say. My prediction is that along with his confession he will point the finger at everything else possible, and I do believe that professional sports are highly poisoned by power, money, cheating, and absolutely wrong-headed priorities. Truly.

Irony

[LINK] The author of "More Guns, Less Crime" was scheduled to speak at the UT law School tonight, an event that must now be postponed because a man firing an assault weapon on campus ending up shooting himself in the Library. They are still looking for a possible 2nd suspect or involved person, and all events on campus have been canceled.

The lecture was hosted by Libertarian Longhorns, the UT Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, the UT Objectivism Society and the UT Federalist Society.

Jeff Shi, president of UT Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, was quoted saying

"I don’t want to comment on any political aspects of this, I hope everything turns out well and the only casualties are the bad guys."

Big Brother in your jeans

I felt something scratchy digging into my skin inside the jeans I had on, and discovered it was this (below). It was made of thin metal strips and was a little sticky. It was sewn in, with a little cloth patch barrier sewn on top, and I guess the cloth patch kept me from feeling this bugger before.



I got these Old Navy jeans at Goodwill, so they've been worn and washed who knows how many times before I got them, and I've worn/washed them quite a bit too.

Here is an excellent rant about these things, which are radio-frequency ID (RFID) chips. Attaching something like that to clothing in the store is not unusual, but apparently Old Navy is not willing to remove it for you as a store normally would for those thumb-tack gizmos.

At least I didn't go through the embarrassment of getting stopped for suspected shoplifting like the guy at the linked post, but I can't remember the last time I was in an Old Navy store. It's been a few years.

What a day...

The big story that was all over the news today - the nut who burned down his house, left a note in his car saying he'd planted a bomb at the airport, and then flew his plane into an office building - happened just about a mile from where I work, and a much shorter distance from where MrB used to work. I disagree with those who say this wasn't an act of terrorism.

Some choice quotes from this kamikaze "patriot" and how he intended to shake up the system by martyring himself and taking the Feds (and some collaterals, he had to know) with him to Hell. These are from his suicide note/manifesto:

But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change.
...
...
I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer.

I was working in my windowless office at the time it happened, and didn't hear a thing. It's very insulated in there, can't even tell if it's raining.

I left work for a doctor's appointment for a case of tennis elbow that has been paining me for a month now. The doctor's office was just as close to the crash site as my office! The doctor gave me a cortisone shot *right* in the elbow. It hurt. But it starting hurting a lot worse when I got in the car to drive home. ow!! I had actually considered driving by the site to get a look, or maybe running an errand or two, but it was not to be. I've been one-armed and crabby all evening - waiting for the tylenol to kick in - and obsessing over this helluva day.

What sprouted all this crazy?

A "driveway moment*" yesterday on NPR's Fresh Air: The guest was Max Blumenthal, author of Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party. I haven’t read the book, but based on this interview it sounds like a really interesting book.

Listen to the interview here.

One of the ‘founding fathers” of the rightwing fringe movement that he discusses is R.J. Rushdoony, who, among other things, wanted to establish a Christian totalitarian theocracy using the Law of the Old Testament (which would very much resemble the Islamic theocracies whose barbaric policies are so repugnant to anyone who loves freedom, featuring such things as a death penalty for immoral women or homosexuality, etc.). Another major player he talks about is James Dobson and his tactics (who many people call “Reverend”, but actually not a Reverend at all), including causing Sarah Palin to be put on the McCain ticket. Then there’s (I’m ashamed to say, “Austin’s own”) Alex Jones, who has these paranoids convinced that Obama’s about to herd them into internment camps under the guise of FEMA.

Here are a couple of Blumenthal’s videos that he has taken in the very belly of the beast.

Gun Show Nation (Inside Anti-Obama Extremist Gun Culture)


Theocracy Now! Convention 2007

*driveway moment: when what's on the radio is so good that you continue to listen in the car after you reach your destination.

Birther control

Colbert had one of the crazy birthers on his show this week, it was one of the main mouthpieces and leaders in the movement, Orly Taitz (Russian-born lawyer, dentist and real estate agent).

People are really confused about natural-born USA citizenship, and who has it. In fairness, sometimes it does take a court to decide, but, in fact, there are some clear rules. Taitz is simply wrong in what she claims is required. She (mistakenly) claims that in order to be a natural-born citizen of the USA, both of your parents must be citizens of the USA, so it doesn't even matter if he was born in the USA because his father was not a US citizen (he was a British subject).

FALSE claim. It does matter.

Obama was born in a state in the United States. That's the fulfillment right there. Children born to foreigners on our soil are natural-born US citizens by birth unless the parents are foreign ambassadors or consuls (there are a few exceptions), and Obama's mother was a US citizen. It does not matter that his father was not, and wouldn't have mattered if his mother was not. [source]

Obama held dual citizenship by birth until he turned 21, this is according to The British Nationality Act of 1948 and the Kenyan Constitution (Kenya became independent from Britain in 1963). He was American/British until Kenya gained independence from Britain. Kenya does NOT permit dual citizenship for adults, and to become a citizen of Kenya one would have to have renounced US citizenship and pledged an oath of allegience to Kenya at the age of 21. This did not happen. [source: FactCheck]

The wiki link does have some interesting historical examples of Presidential candidates and their citizenship issues. There's Chester A. Arthur (as Colbert mentions), Barry Goldwater (who was born in Arizona before it became a state), and the one whose eligibility really IS iffy: John McCain.

Like most people, I thought that a military installation counted as American soil. Not so. He is a citizen because his parents were citizens, but since he was not born on American soil it is still in dispute as to whether he is a "natural-born" citizen or some other kind. Here's an excerpt, you will have to visit the page for more info.

The former unincorporated territory Panama Canal Zone and its military facilities were not regarded as United States territory.[39] In March 2008 McCain was held eligible for Presidency in an opinion paper by former Solicitor General Ted Olson and Harvard Law Professor Laurence H. Tribe. In April 2008 the U.S. Senate approved a non-binding resolution recognizing McCain's status as a natural born citizen. In September 2008 U.S. District Judge William Alsup stated obiter in his ruling that it is "highly probable" that McCain is a natural born citizen, although he acknowledged the possibility that the applicable laws had been enacted after the fact and applied only retroactively. These views have been criticized by Gabriel J. Chin, Professor of Law at the University of Arizona, who argues that McCain was at birth a citizen of Panama and was only retroactively declared a born citizen under 8 U.S.C. § 1403, because at the time of his birth and with regard to the Canal Zone the Supreme Court's Insular Cases overruled the Naturalization Act of 1795, which would otherwise have declared McCain a U.S. citizen immediately at birth. Although the US Foreign Affairs Manual states that children born in the Panama Canal Zone at one point only became U.S. nationals, it also states in general that "it has never been determined definitively by a court whether a person who acquired U.S. citizenship by birth abroad to U.S. citizens is a natural born citizen […]". In Rogers v. Bellei the Supreme Court only ruled that "children born abroad of Americans are not citizens within the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment", and didn't elaborate on the natural born status.

Obama's citizenship is not in dispute. The government has decided to trust the certification and paperwork from the State of Hawaii vs. the (real or fabricated) third-party (rightwing media) hearsay about the statement of Obama's Kenyan grandmother. McCain's citizenship really might have needed to be decided by the Supreme Court to get a binding ruling. (not saying that wouldn't happen, just saying there's a real controversy)

The FactCheck article also says that a Hawaiian source said that the Certification of Live Birth is really all they issue. I'd like to see some documentation on that just to put this to rest.

In what month is the May Day demonstration?

These are some highlights of the "stupid tourist" lists compiled (from travel agents and others) by the UK Daily Telegraph. 20 items in each compilation.
List 1, List 2, List 3

A tourist at a top African game lodge overlooking a waterhole, who spotted a visibly aroused elephant, complained that the sight of this rampant beast ruined his honeymoon by making him feel "inadequate".

"No-one told us there would be fish in the sea. The children were startled."

"The brochure stated: 'No hairdressers at the accommodation'. We're trainee hairdressers - will we be OK staying here?"

"It is your duty as a tour operator to advise us of noisy or unruly guests before we travel."

"I think it should be explained in the brochure that the local store does not sell proper biscuits like custard creams or ginger nuts."

"On my holiday to Goa in India, I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry. I don't like spicy food at all."

"We booked an excursion to a water park but no-one told us we had to bring our swimming costumes and towels."

An angry guest came down to the front desk of a Holland America Line cruise ship demanding a different room. The attendant tried to calm him down and find out why he disliked his cabin so much. He responded: "I paid a lot of money for this cruise and was promised a sea view, the only thing I can see through my window is the damned parking lot!" We’d not yet left the dock

"The disappointment telling the children that the reindeer could not fly was incredible…you must state this clearly in your brochure in future"

"I realise that there is no electricity in the Wilderness Cabins, but there should have been somewhere to recharge my phone"

"You said that your local Slovenian reps spoke English, but you failed to mention the Slovenian accents"

An American lady tourist visiting the amphitheatre at Epheseus, Turkey, said: “If this had been built in America they would have put an elevator in.”

“The sand was too hot. The brochure didn’t tell us this”.

"Why on earth did they build Windsor Castle on the flight path of Heathrow?"

"Can I wear high heels in Australia?"

"Was this man-made?" asked a tourist at the Grand Canyon National Park

"Do you know of any undiscovered ruins?" asked a tourist at the Mesa Verde National Park

"Is Wales closed during the winter?"

Darwin Award candidate?

"Half-cocked" now has double meaning for bad guy wannabe.
[LINK]

I think the Darwin rules might apply, or at least an Honorable Mention.

Really bad acronym

Biologically Appropriate Raw Food, a.k.a. BARF

[LINK]
It relates to raw food that people prepare for their pets. Some people really swear by this. I used to be exposed to a lot of the raw food evangelism when Alex was still with us, a cat with IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease). I actually did try giving him some raw meat once - which came right back up just like most of the other stuff he ate - there goes that acronym! At least it's relevant to food. I remember seeing one of these gas stations (BAR-F) in New Mexico, and you have to ask "what were they thinking?"

Also available: KKK Gay-Away Spray

[full description here] Assembles in just minutes! Includes simple instructions and requires only a screwdriver. The cross is compact when not in use. And of course, it's weather-proof.

Decorate this holiday season with the Original Christmas Cross to remind your friends, family, neighbors, and all who drive by your home, office, or church of the real meaning of Christmas.

Weatherproof! Isn't that handy? Don't you hate it when you burn a cross and rain or wind puts out the fire? I thought the crucifixion thing was for Easter, not Christmas. hmm. There are some things that this would remind your friends of (and enemies too... don't want to leave anyone out) (inclusive... yeah): 1) a typical night out for the KKK, 2) there's no way this house voted for Obama, and 3) get off my lawn.

This item is from the American Family Association, which is real big on the fundie issues, especially teh gays. They sell many things including DVDs which are designed to make people paranoid that gays are taking over. One is called "HATE CRIMES, Are You Next?"

A retired Christian couple were subjected to an 80-minute interrogation by police after the couple made a polite complaint to their local council about its 'gay rights' policies, which included making pro-homosexual literature available in public buildings.

It could happen to YOU.

The Hate Crime is a police interrogation of people making a "polite" complaint! The video costs $7 and only lasts for 10 minutes.

Even worse than that one is "They're Coming To Your Town," and the cover looks a little derivative of Yellow Submarine, except they missed the point of it. See, bleak, gray and fearful is Bad, colorful change is Good. Blue Meanies!!! Here's part of the description, sounds like a bad movie or after school special on a family cable channel, or a variation of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Residents of the small Arkansas town of Eureka Springs noticed the homosexual community was growing. But they felt no threat. They went about their business as usual. Then, one day, they woke up to discover that their beloved Eureka Springs, a community which was known far and wide as a center for Christian entertainment--had changed. The City Council had been taken over by a small group of homosexual activists.

The Eureka Springs they knew is gone. It is now a national hub for homosexuals. Eureka Springs is becoming the San Francisco of Arkansas.

Love that last line. Who woulda thunkit? There's a trailer for the DVD at the link.

One stupid mistake after another

When watching the McCain speech, I was struck by the green screen behind him, and thought "Good grief! What are these people thinking by putting a green backdrop behind him after all the fun that Stephen Colbert had with the last green background? Inviting viewers to "Make McCain Exciting" by taking the footage and making their own video revisions. There have been some brilliant entries, and you'll find more of them here on YouTube than at the Colbert site (a couple are posted at the bottom of the post but do seek out your favorite theme whether it's surfing or Star Trek).

Anyway, showing him against green was not the biggest mistake. AMERICAblog points out that it was supposed to be a picture of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in DC. Instead, it was a huge picture of Walter Reed Middle School in California. The school in the picture has nothing to do with the Medical Center.

A couple of green screen bits of fun. Here's the Pulp Fiction version:


Here's a Simpsons version:

Fast Draw Fast Food

[LINK] The NRA likes to say that guns don't kill people, people kill people, but sometimes if you happen to have loaded guns around you might just kill someone over a fast food hamburger, as has happened twice within a month's time in St. Louis.

And of course, Gov Goodhair likes the idea

What could possibly go wrong if teachers in public schools are armed on the job? Well, all kinds of hellishness. It's unimaginable, really.

My friend is a teacher, and her rationalization for teachers deserving and needing to have summers off is that teachers get soooo stressed, pressured and nerve-wracked that they really have to have that long break or they will just lose their minds. My counter-argument was that the police, firefighters, paramedics, and 911 phone bank operators should also get summers off - but that did not sway her opinion of her situation.

Back to the topic... I really hate to think of the stressed and nerve-wracked teachers thinking that a gun might be a handy thing to have. They might even shoot each other if school politics are anything like office politics in general - and thankfully people are not allowed to be armed in the office unless their job involves it. There's a reason for laws like that. More likely is that a student will get hold of the teacher's gun, and there you go, back to all kinds of hellishness.


Search Teh Google on this topic

Edwards should not have run

[LINK] This whole John Edwards business is really unfortunate. First, I want to say that things like this should only have to do with your personal life should not matter in politics, but the fact is that they do matter, especially when it comes to elections. Don't EVER think that you are going to be able to keep it a secret, that is delusional and naive on your part. If you are lying to the media about it (even the tabloids -- and don't lie to the tabloids, for crap's sake -- lying is their job and they are going to twist your revealed lies into something you never even imagined!), it is going to eventually make you look like a dirty rotten liar, even if you have fixed the problem with your family and all involved.

Now, John McCain... he also cheated on his wife after he returned from the war, and they divorced, allowing him to marry Cindy. Republicans don't seem to be bothered by that sort of thing as much, unless your cheating partner is the same sex that you are. It hardly even gets brought up.

If you are running for President, and you are a Democrat, they are gonna getcha for that one. Don't think for a minute that it will be OK. And don't ever think that saying you didn't love the other person or that the child isn't yours will help. It just makes you sound worse because you are just trying to smoothe down and neutralize something that is not neutral. It's the equivalent of getting caught red-handed and responding with "this is not what it looks like." No one is ever going to believe you again.

If Edwards had gotten the nomination, we would now be looking at the coming election as a train wreck about to happen, and that's not fair to all of us riding on a shred of hope that maybe, just MAYBE, this election will bring change.

Alarmed!

One day last week when I got home in the middle of the day, there was that awful telltale beeping of a smoke alarm with a dying battery. About once a minute there's a shrill BEEEEEEEEP that is intended to hasten you to fix the situation pronto.

BEEEEEEP

Jax, who is usually catching some ZZZs is scurrying around and giving me a look that says, "Pleeease make it stop!" I run for the earplugs first, then get the ladder from the garage and carry it upstairs as it is apparent it's one of those.

BEEEEEEP

Call MrB at his office, since he's the smoke alarm installer guy and I don't really know how to take this thing down without breaking it. I am getting frantic. I am pulling and twisting on it.

BEEEEEEP

Now I see a hole in the ceiling and the wiring. Plaster is falling in my face. I'm trying to follow the instructions I'm talking on the phone, but NOT calmly. If this doesn't work, I am trying to imagine putting up with a shrill beep going off once a minute for the next 4 hours.

BEEEEEEP

I am yelling now. HOW MUCH WILL THIS COST TO REPLACE IF I BREAK IT? I'M GETTING THE HAMMER IN ABOUT 2 MORE SECONDS!

BEEEEEEP

OK. I got it down. Now where's the danged battery? I can't find it!! He says just twist it open. It's not working!! He's says just put it outside for now. [sigh] Now why didn't I think of that? I stick it out on the front porch. I won't hear it out there, and it may discourage Jehovah's Witnesses. Relieved, I come back inside.

BEEEEEEP

Wha? Something up there is still beeping? I run back upstairs. Have to wait until the minute rolls around. Must be the one in the bedroom.

BEEEEEEP

It's not! It's coming from upstairs... in the bathroom... just a few feet from the smoke alarm on the landing that I just yanked down there's a CO detector in the bathroom. It says "Err" on the front panel. I unplug it from the wall socket. No more beep.

MrB says that the whole scene would have hilarious to watch. I say it would have been a lot funnier if I had smashed the smoke alarm with a hammer.

You may pet the Jesus

A family has seen Jesus in their cat's fur. The cat's name is Sissy.

Blessed are those who provide unlimited fishes.

Ab stain

I really don't think you should put the word "STAIN" on your underwear.

... it must be OK to wear a thong in front of someone, as long as you don't arouse them sexually, because intentionally doing that would make it more difficult for both of you to abstain. That's the twist in these knickers.

More gun craziness

Like many of you, I'm disturbed by the whackjob who decided to shoot people in the UU church in Knoxville on Sunday. Nobody is yet revealing what they think his reasons are. According to this HuffPo story, based on a neighbor's testimony, the guy was ticked off at Christians. I can understand that much of it, but if that's his motive this is ironic because Unitarian Universalism is NOT Christian. It is creedless and openly welcomes Christians, Jews, Muslims, Pagans, Buddhists, Hindus, Agnostics, Atheists... and doesn't require conversion of any kind. That's one big reason that I am a UU and attend nearly every week. Atheists are a small percentage of the membership, just as they are in the population in general, but they are included. If the guy wanted to target fundy Christians, he couldn't have been further off. The Christians who attend there are very liberal and open-minded in their beliefs. I am married to one of them. [note: see update at end of post]

From HuffPo: The church promotes progressive social work, including advocacy of women and gay rights. The Knoxville congregation also has provided sanctuary for political refugees, fed the homeless and founded a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, according to its Web site.

Karen Massey, a neighbor to Adkisson, told the Knoxville News Sentinel about a lengthy conversation she had with Adkisson a few years back in which she told him her daughter had just graduated from a bible college. She said she was surprised by his reaction when she told him she was a Christian.

"He almost turned angry," she told the newspaper. "He seemed to get angry at that. He said that everything in the Bible contradicts itself if you read it." She also said Adkisson spoke frequently about his parents, who "made him go to church all his life. ... He acted like he was forced to do that."

They have found a multiple-page handwritten letter in the man's car that they are calling a "manifesto", but no details on its content have been revealed. The investigator has said that his intention was to kill everyone, and not just a particular person.

From the Knoxville News: A Knoxville Police Department investigator was observed Sunday briefing Knox County Criminal Court Judge Kenneth Irvine Jr. on the letter.

The investigator, who could not be identified, was seen in the lobby of the Knoxville Police Department Safety Building while in the process of securing a search warrant for Adkisson's white basement duplex at 1919 Levy Drive.

The investigator told Irvine that in a subsequent interview with Adkisson, the suspect had said he entered the church Sunday morning with the intent of killing everyone inside, although he denied having specifically targeted any children.

The kids in the church at the time of the shooting were performing scenes from Annie Junior.

Tennessee Valley UU

UPDATE: It's now being reported that the church was targeted because of its liberal views.