at the risk of becoming a proxy

This post from Balloon Juice struck me as both intelligent and funny, so I acted again like an un-original pass-through, handing over to you my reading list instead of writing something of my own here.

The Bush administration actually isn’t that hard to figure out. They love secrecy because they know that they are breaking the law. Part of that, probably a small part, comes from actual malicious intent but the much larger fraction probably just comes from the fact that they are not good enough at their job to do things right the first time. If you cannot get things right and you have too much self-regard to admit a mistake (that would look weak in front of the terrorists French liberals press jackalopes) then you get the dysfunctional mess that we have now.

If you can't be funny while using the word 'jackalope,' you're just not tryin'.

minimum rage

"Since the last minimum-wage increase, salaries for members of Congress have gone up $31,600."

DVD - 'From the Earth to the Moon'

"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard..."

- JFK, September 12, 1962

I like some of the things that come out of Hollywood that are pursuits by those who have accomplished a lot and are now free to follow their passions. They've got the drive and enjoyment that comes through in the small indie films of rookies, with the expertise granted only through long experience. Another good example: 'Goodnight and Good Luck (its Wikipedia entry is good, too, especially the note about the actor playing Joe McCarthy laying it on a little thick).'

Zopa

I know I keep saying this, but the variety of things going on out there that are enabled by the internet is truly astonishing.

Now, if you want to borrow money (in the UK at least, I didn't read long enough to determine if the service can be used in the US), you don't have to go to a bank. You can just go to Zopa and borrow from some other individual who wants to lend money they have and make a little profit in the interest rate charged. eBay for loans.

Social networking is going to grind to dust all of our traditional notions of dealing with each other and with organizations. This can't be overstated: While things will tend to remain familiar on a conceptual level, everything is going to be changed.

Was she beaten by hippies as a child?

The Hitler vs. Coulter quiz

It's not the score, it's the realization. I'd like to see some citations on the quotes, but if they're real...

Almost as good as punching them in the teeth

For anyone shaking their head and thinking, '...but didn't they say the exact opposite seven years ago? Nah, I must be thinking of something else.'

Seven soundbites to use against Rove's 'Cut and Run' talk

I used to work with a guy who automatically despised anyone who uttered the phrase 'Big Brother' during anything but a literary discussion about Orwell. It's hard not to think of that book every day, though, when we're given such blatant real life reversals and attempted rewrites of history.

why I like political discussion

I was in lockstep with liberals in opposing our adventure in Iraq, but against most Democrat legislators who cowardly voted for it. Now I disagree with liberals who say we should just get out, believing one should clean up their messes, but disagree with what many conservatives trot out as justification for staying. And today, a conservative pushes me just a little closer to clearer understanding, and thinking more positively toward getting out.

bunny-hop

Rabobank’'s Oscar Freire pulled off a cool, gutsy move in the Tour de Suisse last Friday. He was in a breakaway with a few other riders at about 3 miles to go when he pulled off a splendid move that gained him just enough time to leave the group behind, which was quickly swallowed up by the peloton. From tdfblog:

Then, with only about 5 kilometers to ride, and Davitamon-Lotto and QuickStep driving the peloton nearer and nearer, Freire bunny-hopped up onto and across a median as the break took the long way around a divided highway.

By the time the break went right, straight, and back to the left to join the lane Freire had followed, the triple world champion had 5 seconds on the trio, and rode all out to the line. His breakmates were absorbed in the last kilometer, and the peloton was breathing down his neck, but Freire took the win, with just enough time in hand to zip his jersey.

MHH-AAAN!!

Just in case you were wondering, the Tour starts in eleven days. Insert superlative adulation here.

I.

Can't.

Wait.

knock bang

The other morning, I scanned over two related items (a news feed and a blog post on it). They both addressed the SCOTUS' finding in a Detroit man's case that seized items can not be stricken from a case's evidence simply because of illegal entry. Initially I thought of privacy and the ability to defend one's home, but didn't get that worked up over it, thinking that there's a small difference between police knocking, announcing themselves, waiting, and coming in with knocking, announcing, and coming in.

Then I read this, and got some more context, discovering how short-sighted I'd been three minutes earlier.

Then I read this and literally felt dismayed; my stomach actually sunk at the dread thought. Read the comments, too. Death by heart attack for the retired minister and a little girl growing up with a father on death row because of an increase in police acting like paramilitary teams.

On top of that, the Supreme Court misses the terrible eventualities. It's interesting watching the clashes between segments of ideology with this court - pro-business and law-enforcement have been used to trounce the other bastion of conservatism, property rights, yet there doesn't seem to be much outcry on either side.

Update: According to Reason, as of September 21, 2006, Cory Maye has been taken off death row, but remains in prison.

name this post

I changed the name of the blog to 'PS...', and I don't like it much more than the old one (for the life of me, I can't remember why I liked 'ploosa shonz?' - the idea behind it was ok, but juheezus it sounded pretentious and namby-pamby). But there's a certain cost to be expected to changing a title; not in traffic in my case, but in dedication. It seems vaguely spineless to stick my albeit tiny flag in the dirt and yawp, only to pick it up and shift it. So be it. I think most of my problem is a total lack of direction of this thing. I like the accumulating heft of this location, and I enjoy posting and tweaking here and there, I just don't otherwise care that much. I haven't committed myself to creating something in particular, so it's ended up being yet another bloggy keyhole to the Blob. Well, I'll work on that, but in the mean time I still need a title (Mean Time was a working title for an unfinished book about one of my cruises in the Navy - the idea doesn't really apply here, though).

A certain blogger took the only title I'd easily associate with (albeit after graciously asking me loooong before I had any idea what he was talking about), and nothing else springs to mind. Any ideas?

One idea just occurred to me: I'll replace the short-lived 'PS...' (if you blinked, you missed it - this post was meant only to announce the change to PS...) with 'Name this Blog' until you do, actually, name this blog. If you don't I will. Don't make me do it.

"I am but an egg."

Talking Turkey - good, smart stuff.

I had no idea...

A SMILF would have to be better than their last lame attempt at a mascot.

From pseudorandom:

Why Soccer Moms Drive Minivans

On The Daily Show this week, host Jon Stewart interviewed "Daily Show expert" John Hodgman (I like how he's just an "expert", not an expert on any particular subject) on the World Cup:

Jon Stewart: Why hasn't soccer been embraced by Americans?

John Hodgman: Well, it has by some. For example, the famous soccer moms who've tried to liven the game up for Americans by introducing minivans into play. And also casual sex.

Jon Stewart: Casual sex?

John Hodgman: Yes. That's what the minivans are for. You've obviously never been to Brookline, Massachusetts, SMILF capital of New England.

From this page, click on "Latest Headlines", then click on "The World Cup" under "Most Recent Videos from The Daily Show With Jon Stewart".

You can tell he's bloviating...

...because his mouth is moving.

I normally ignore all things Limbaugh because he's so laughably obtuse, but I don't know what I like more about this post from Smithers: Rush's picture or his feeble attempt at statistics while minimalizing the deaths of American soldiers, the stupid addict.

Zarqawi... finally

Lest this be lauded a little too loudly as a major step forward, if someone had a job to do, and they did it three years late, would you pat them on the back for it? There will be others, like viruses, lining up to fill the niche. Oh and by the way, what happened to 'Mr. Dead or Alive' anyway? Why can't we find a tall forty-eight year old diabetic with an enlarged heart and bad kidneys?

Just my day to be a contrarian prick I guess.

Didn't know I was on a scavenger hunt

I could waste hours on Google Local scanning the tops of buildings and streets, but I got lucky today when trying to get a map to the Dearborn Amtrak station for my father-in-law. Google '16121 Michigan Avenue, Dearborn, MI', zoom in a bit, choose 'Hybrid' and scan to the left/west. Either that plane is flying over the Ford HQ, or they're mowing the lawn with it.

:|

Yes, it's the little things that make me whole.

In the Top Ten List...

...of things I wish I'd thought of.

:-(

murketing

"I guess it’s inevitable: All the positive experiences that can be branded are already taken. All that’s left to sponsor are the occasions of misery, discomfort, and rage."

I don't like 'em either.

Miscegenatin'!

Alabama became the last state to hold onto its anti-miscegenation law when S. Carolina voters repealed theirs in 1998 with 62% of voters' support. I love that stat - it means that of the people that voted, 38% voted against repealing the law (a number fairly close to our President's current approval ratings - it's probably the same folks).

When Alabama finally did repeal their unenforceable law in 2000, it was hailed as a good symbolic step forward for a state often seen only in its past. The best numbers I could quickly find were 59% in favor of repealing, 41% against. In 2000. The last time an anti-miscegenation amendment was proposed for the US Constitution was, I believe, 1912, but 88 years later, the last state in the Union to officially drop the issue still had almost half their people voting against it.

I guess what this means today is that we need to be patient and persistent in the face of institutionalized bigotry. All the same arguments were made throughout the 1800s and early 1900s by all the same forgettable names about blacks and whites marrying; end of America, chaos, wrath of God, etc., etc. All the same knee-jerk legislative panic swept the country, and in the end, it all amounted to law-abiding people who were once hated and feared getting to do just like the rest of the law-abiding people doing the hating and fearing. If we stick to the same schedule, the last state to drop its gay marriage ban will do so around 2094. By then it will have been legal in most states and probably tolerated even in the ones that considered it technically illegal. It's a shame that it takes us so long to adjust to change, but it's nice to know that eventually there will be people who'll shake their heads and wonder how we could be such backward, ignorant rednecks.