Hump-Day Song of the Week: Because They Made it That Way by Mr. Lif

Friday Funny: Dance Assassin

People really bad at knowing who’s running

I’m really not sure how to explain this. From Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism News Index Survey, they found that fewer people are aware of the fact that Mittens is running than they did at the same point in 2007.

That’s strange. The dude’s been running for president for four years.

Like, Bush’s (relatively, jeez) high number makes sense, because he was the frickin’ vice president. Dole’s is oddly high, but I guess he was the odds-on favorite early. I guess. Giuliani was America’s Mayor (TM), so I guess people may have known about that guy.

You’d say, “Well, maybe nobody’s paying attention this time around.” I’d generally agree. Except, well, the poll also found that interest in the campaign is about the same as it was in 2007.

Westboro, hateful, accidentally makes a funny

Posted without comment. Carry on.

Hump-Day Song of the Week: Empty Vessels by The Maccabees featuring Roots Manuva

Morning Constitutional – Tuesday, 4 October 2011

Good morning, everyone. Amanda Knox won her appeal and is headed back to Seattle. Now, your morning constitutional:

Probably unsurprising, but the American Jobs Act is dead on arrival.

U.S. ability to wield smart power abroad through diplomacy and foreign aid would be hurt tremendously under new proposals to slash State Department spending.

A huge suicide attack has killed dozens near government buildings in the Somali capital of Mogadishu.

Afghan President Karzai in India on important visit, which is expected to boost India’s involvement in stabilizing the region.

Republican nominee and Texas Governor Rick Perry has lost about half his support in the past month.

Jury selection begins today in the trial of Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, the underwear bomber, who is representing himself.

President Obama has sent three trade deals, with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, to Congress.

Why overpaid bosses keep getting paid more.

The Occupy Wall Street protest is gaining labor support, which could bring with it monetary and organizational assistance.

Bailing out Greece and other indebted European countries may not be popular among Germans, but may be more so than breaking up the euro.

We may be close to an addiction vaccine.

Huh, this is pretty sexist.

Finally, black bear wants some pizza, gets some pizza.

Just a baby cheetah mewing

Hard to believe how goddamn scary this things is going to be someday soon.

Morning Constituional – Monday, 26 September 2011

Good morning, friends. Britney Spears angers some in Stoke Newington, a borough of London, after shooting a robbery-themed music video. Now, your morning constitutional:

An outine for a rescue plan for the beleaguered Eurozone economy is  emerging, which will likely include a 50% write-down of Greece’s sovereign debt and potentially a 2 trillion euro bailout fund.

For the third time in six months, a partial government shutdown is possible if Congress does not agree to a short-term spending plan by Friday. Congress was expected to recess this week, but is staying in town.

Expectations that the congressional so-called “super-committee” could hammer out a major debt deal are dropping drastically.

Who said Obama is holding up domestic oil production? Two years ago, the U.S. imported two-thirds of its oil. Now, it imports less than half. By 2017, Goldman Sachs predicts the U.S. could pass Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world’s largest oil producer.

The Saudi King Abdullah announced that women will be allowed to vote and hold office in future municipal elections.

Just seven months before conservative president Nicholas Sarkozy will face reelection, France elected a left-wing majority in its Senate. The Senate doesn’t have the ability to derail Sarkozy’s legislative plans, but it is an ill omen because the Senate has been a conservative bastion for decades.

Republicans in the House passed a bill forcing the EPA to delay and block several air pollution rules. It will likely die in the Senate.

Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, the hikers who were arrested by Iranian authorities, accused of spying, and held for two years, have returned to the U.S. four days after being released.

Republican Candidate for President and Texas Governor Rick Perry is blocking reporters from his Twitter feed.

According to an international team of researchers, the cost of treating cancer in the developing world is spiraling and “headed towards a crisis.”

A visual history of literary references on The Simpsons.

Finally, Minneapolis women tries to send live puppy through the mail.

Elizabeth Warren comes out swinging

Not a new thought, but I like the idea of her being senator. Hell, I’d like her to be president someday.

Your V+V POWER RANKINGS: Second Edition

1. Willard “Mittens” Romney

Romney’s still behind in national polls, but he’s slowing making progress while hitting Perry hard on Social Security. In a recent Suffolk University/7NEWS poll of New Hampshire voters, Romney commands an impressive lead over his rivals with 41% of the vote, with Ron Paul in second at 14% (and Jon Huntsman in third at 10%!).

It’s probably going to come down to Florida, where Romney is is 22% to Perry’s 31%, but that could swing wildly before winter. Especially since Florida’s Republican voters tend to be older, which is prime pickings for a referendum on Social Security.

Oh, he also won Tim Pawlenty’s endorsement, which probably doesn’t mean anything because, like Pawlenty’s campaign, nobody is paying attention to Pawlenty.

I still see him taking the nomination.

Over/Under: 20.6 (+)

Prediction: Over

Again, not by much, but his numbers are on an upward trajectory.

Numbers 2-7 after the fold.

Continue reading »

R.E.M. calls it quits

One of the greatest bands of all times has announced they’re done.

It’s a shame that I never got to see them live, although I always meant to. Guess I should just be pleasantly surprised they made it 31 years—and consistently kept putting out great albums.

British government backs same-sex marriage

This is something:

Lib Dem Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone today declared herself “delighted” to announce the Government’s move to legislate for same-sex marriages before the next general election.

Addressing the opening day of her party’s autumn conference in Birmingham, she spoke passionately about the need to reject prejudice and discrimination, and support the cause of women’s equal rights and persecuted minorities across the world.

To rounds of applause, she said: “I am delighted to announce today that in March this Government will bring in a formal consultation on how to implement equal civil marriage for same-sex couples.

“And this would allow us to make any legislative changes necessary by the end of this Parliament.”

She added: “Civil partnerships were a very welcome first step, but as our constitution states, this party rejects prejudice and discrimination in all its forms. And I believe that to deny one group of people the same opportunities offered to another, is not only discrimination, it is simply not fair.”

Mind you, this is the government that is a coalition between (very crude but still useful labels)  the conservative party (Tories) and the center party (Liberal Democrats). Yes, this is happening because the conservatives are running the government. Huh.

Maybe they’re looking for an economic boost in the midst of their terrible austerity policies?

Hump-Day Song of the Week: Bust A Move by Young MC

This song is from 1989. Young MC is English. The bass line is actually played by Flea. The lyrics were written in 90 minutes in his dorm room at USC and were never edited—he recorded the first draft. Previously, Young MC also co-wrote “Wild Thing” and “Funky Cold Medina.”

Also, this song is just plain awesome.

It Gets Better

I’ve said this many times before, but here it is again:  My pride and affection for the American experiment lies in its ability to improve itself, to get better. This morning, America got better.

Finally, after decades of a terrible and ridiculous compromise that left thousands of American servicepeople as second-class citizens, the military policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” is dead.

It lies in the graveyard of many other terrible mistakes in bigotry: Slavery, segregation, bans on miscegenation, the accepted social and workplace mistreatment of women, and, more recently, bans on sexual practices between people of the same gender.

Yes, it is still illegal (or, at least, not recognized) in most states to marry the person you love. And, it is still legal to fire somebody for their sexual orientation alone. But, we can take pride in the fact that the entirely of the United States Armed Forces can now say: “You are accepted here, no matter who you are. And, you don’t have to lie about it.”

This is the change we believed in. This is the hope we had when we elected the man who stands as the President of the United States. We may have misgivings; we may feel that the wave of hope for a better future, and the expectation that Washington could change, stopped at the rocky shore of political reality. Years of bickering over the economy, health care, public debt, and social issues has darkened our vision of what we thought would be a better future.

There’s still much to do. Same-sex couples in the military who are married in states that recognize it are barred from receiving spousal privileges due to the Defense of Marriage Act, a law that needs to be ended. Also, the military was not alone in its power to discriminate against gays: any private workplace is allowed to fire someone for their sexual orientation. That also needs to end. There are many old, tired and terrible policies that should be changed, updated, reformed, or repealed.

But things are changing. Things are getting better. America is getting better.

Here’s one brave soldier, serving in Germany, marking the end of the ban by calling his father yesterday and coming out. Fitting that Dan Savage’s project to help kids who have been bullied (often as a result of their sexual orientation) is called “It Gets Better.” And, that this particular solider started making videos as part of that project.

It gets better.

Sometimes, being black literally gets you the death penalty

Sweet mother of fuck (emphasis mine):

A Texas inmate sentenced to death—in a racially charged case that now-Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said was inappropriately decided—has petitioned Gov. Rick Perry and his state parole board for clemency, giving the GOP presidential candidate two days to decide whether to commute the sentence or grant a temporary stay of execution. Last week, one of the Harris County prosecutors who helped secure Buck’s conviction wrote a letter to Perry urging him to grant a retrial. In 10 years as governor, Perry has presided over 234 executions, more than any other governor in modern history; only once has he granted clemency in a case where the Supreme Court hasn’t already mandated it. Now, just as he steps onto the national stage, Perry will have to make what looks like a tough call—with GOP primary voters watching.

The inmate, Duane Edward Buck, is set to be executed by lethal injection on September 15 for murdering two people at the home of his ex-girlfriend in 1995. The issue at hand isn’t Buck’s innocence, but the means by which his death sentence was obtained. Prosecutors firmly established Buck’s guilt, but to secure a capital punishment conviction in Texas they needed to prove “future dangerousness”—that is, provide compelling evidence that Buck posed a serious threat to society if he were ever to walk free. They did so in part with the testimony of a psychologist, Dr. Walter Quijano, who testified that Buck’s race (he’s African American) made him more likely to commit crimes in the future. (Quijano answered in the affirmative to the question of whether “the race factor, [being] black, increases the future dangerousness for various complicated reasons.”)

Friday Funny: Star Wars impressions

Use the Force for Good at www.su2c.com/usetheforce. Stand Up To Cancer Celebrity Ambassadors Aziz Ansari, Zach Galifianakis, Bill Hader, Ed Helms, Ken Jeong, Jaime King, Seth Rogen, Andy Samberg and Emma Stone – along with Star Wars alum Samuel L. Jackson – each Use the Force for Good as they recreate classic Star Wars scenes to raise awareness for cancer research.

Hump-Day Song of the Week: High Horse by the Jim Jones Revue

This is pretty

Apologies for the stark lack of pretty things on the blog lately.

Compressed 02 by Kim Pimmel:

I combined everyday soap bubbles with exotic ferrofluid liquid to create an eerie tale, using macro lenses and time lapse techniques. Black ferrofluid and dye race through bubble structures, drawn through by the invisible forces of capillary action and magnetism.

Oklahoma state legislator Sally Kern thinks gays are the worst ever

Oklahoma Republican state legislator Sally Kern starts out strong:

You know if you just look at it in practical terms, which has destroyed and ended the life of more people? Terrorism attack here in America or HIV/AIDS? In the last twenty years, fifteen to twenty years, we’ve had maybe three terrorist attacks on our soil with a little over 5,000 people regrettably losing their lives. In the same time frame, there have been hundreds of thousands who have died because of having AIDS. So which one’s the biggest threat?

I read that far and basically thought “Hey, finally! Some perspective!” I was excited (well, I could have been, if I didn’t sort of expect what was coming). HIV/AIDS does impact more people than terrorism, and we spend far more on anti-terror policies. Maybe a fraction of that could go to education, treatment, research.  Terrorism also takes up far more of our media bandwidth. Terrorism got so scary, we had to say any time we mentioned it: “This isn’t about us versus Islam! It’s about the world versus the crackpots!” Maybe we could take some of that bandwidth and rail against the stigma of HIV/AIDS infection: “You’re positive, but your life isn’t over! You’re negative, but people who are positive aren’t scary!”

Nope.

Instead, as expected, she goes right to the deep end:

And you know, every day our young people, adults too, but especially our young people, are bombarded at school, in movies, in music, on TV, in the mall, in magazines, they’re bombarded with ‘homosexuality is normal and natural.’ It’s something they have to deal with every day. Fortunately we don’t have to deal with a terrorist attack every day, and that’s what I mean.

…

It’s more dangerous, and yes I think that it’s also more dangerous because it will tear down the moral fiber of this nation. We were founded as a nation upon the principles of religion and morality, if we take those out from under our society we will lose what has made us a great nation, we will no longer be a virtuous people, which we see happening already. And without virtue this nation will not survive.

I think I can trace the logic (although, it’s really strained): AIDS is worse than terrorism. Gays make AIDS. Gays are worse than AIDS. Gays are the worst.

Lesson from 1937: Halting inflation a good way to create recessions

A solid read over here, but here’s the key take-away:

If we are to avoid the mistakes of the past, it is important to have an accurate assessment of what those past mistakes were. The severity of the Recession of 1937-38 was not due to contractionary fiscal policy or higher reserve requirements. By contrast, the policy tightening associated with gold sterilisation was not modest – it did not simply reduce the growth of the monetary base by a few percentage points, it stopped its growth altogether. While the Federal Reserve is often blamed for its poor policy choices during the Great Depression, the Treasury Department was responsible for this particular policy error.

The recession of 1937-38 occurred long ago, but it does have policy lessons for today. It suggests that, in a weak recovery, a pre-emptive monetary strike against inflation (which was very low at the time, as it is today) is capable of producing a devastating recession.