Associated Press:

The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it would accept, not appeal, a federal judge’s order that lifts Bush administration restrictions limiting over-the-counter sales of “Plan B” to women 18 and older. U.S. District Judge Edward Korman ruled last month in a lawsuit filed in New York that President George W. Bush’s appointees let politics, not science, drive their decision to restrict over-the-counter access.

Sounds good at first blush, but when you realize that the FDA’s own medical reviewers had initially recommended that the contraceptive be made available without any age restrictions, you see that it’s a half-measure.

Critics of the contraceptive say Plan B is the equivalent of an abortion pill because it can prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus. Recent research suggests that’s possible but not likely.

So the fuck what! Why would that even matter? I mean, in those terms, “God” would have to be greatest abortionist ever–EVER.  In humans, between a quarter and a third of fertilized eggs fail to properly implant in the wall of the uterus–and that’s with no interference or intervention of any kind. Anyone who believes that their “perfect” god created a “perfect” human reproductive system, is sadly mistaken and frankly, either ignorant or delusional.

Get over it already! I mean, I know to your way of thinking sex is a bad thing because Jesus never got laid and all, but remember, hormones yell louder than parents. And remember also that it is the certainty, not the severity, of adverse consequences that deters behavior.  Get that?  Your daughter, as well as mine, has or will have too many friends and acquaintances that are having sex and not getting pregnant for this remote possibility to be much of a deterrent. There’s just too many “ifs”.  If she has sex and if it’s unprotected sex or if she only “thinks” it’s not unprotected sex and if she gets pregnant and if she’s under 18 and if she doesn’t have any friends or friends with older siblings who are over 18 and willing to purchase the Plan B pill for her, and if she winds up having to tell her parents, and if her parents wind up making her have the kid, then and in that event yada, yada, yada.

And it’s always the same arguments from these people!  Kids are so awful and horrible that they will take any chance just to fuck up the lives of their parents, right? Well fuck that. To paraphrase Bengt Washburn, saying this pill will make teenagers have sex is like saying the headlights on my car make the sun go down. Fucking get real.

(CBS) Millions of your stimulus tax dollars are already going to work in affluent Redmond, Wash., the home of Microsoft, where unemployment is among the lowest in the nation.

The stimulus money will help build a bridge over Redmond’s only freeway, reports CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson. It’s at a spot that happens to connect Microsoft’s east campus to its west campus. The project has been on Microsoft’s wish list for years, and includes fancy landscaping, a bike lane and pedestrian walkway.

I’m told that an unnamed source inside Microsoft was quoted as saying, “All I know is, Apple doesn’t have bridge connecting its campuses.  See?  Microsoft rules!”

But, seriously, I do think it’s important–in these difficult times–to help struggling companies like, wait, did that say “Microsoft”?  What the fuck?

Americans United for Separation of Church and State today expressed disappointment at the Obama administration’s decision to ask former football coach Tony Dungy to serve on the president’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United’s executive director, “I am surprised and disappointed that Dungy has been asked to serve on the council. His view that civil-marriage law should reflect religious doctrine is not in keeping with the Constitution.”

Under the proposal, a person could be fined as much as $1,000 for publicly wearing pants “below the person’s waistline … in a manner that exposes the person’s underwear or bare buttocks.”

Towns says the behavior is offensive.

Now, I completely understand that Rep. Towns may have sponsored this bill–believing full well that it would never make it out of committee–simply as a matter of voicing an opinion, or so that he could claim a “moral victory” to his constituency when he next has to run for office.  But:

The measure sponsored by Rep. Joe Towns, a Memphis Democrat, passed the House Criminal Practice and Procedure Subcommittee on Wednesday.

Jesus-fucking-please us!  I’ve got an idea: let’s turn every police officer in the state into a fucking high school assistant principal! I mean, waistlines today, hemlines tomorrow. What the fuck is going on up there on Capitol Hill???

I for one am just thoroughly pleased that we have, in Tennessee, solved all our problems related to real crime and budget shortfalls and education and unemployment and all the other issues that have a real, substantial daily impact on peoples lives. I mean, why else would good Rep. Towns be sponsoring such meaningless, trivial and trite–not to mention un-American–legislation about incredibly insignificant shit that, pardon, “offends” him. Talk about legislating to the lowest common denominator! What delicate sensibilities this daisy has! (Sorry, that’s actually an insult to daisies which are, after all, fairly resilient plants) What’s next, bluejeans only on Fridays? Christ, we’re talking about sidewalks here, not statehouses!

And don’t get me wrong, I don’t advocate this saggy pants stuff. But you know what I do? I don’t wear saggy fucking pants that fall down to the crack of my ass! Jesus! Whatever happened to freedom? You don’t like saggy pants? Fine, don’t wear them, but it’s a very different thing to go around telling other people they can’t wear them. What is this guy, six, and all of us are over at his house playing in his backyard?

Maybe I’m just flat wrong here, but since when does anyone have the right to not be offended? I mean, in my home, yes, but in public?  Get real!

You know, it’s bad enough when lawmakers try to legislate their own personal, religious belief system in an effort to force the rest of us to live our lives the way THEY say we should, but this guy is actually trying to legislate his own personal likes and dislikes. Did I step through some fucking portal without knowing it and wind up in Bizzaro World?

What’s the deal, Rep. Towns?  Did some other Representative beat you to the punch by sponsoring a bill that would require everyone to smile when they’re in public?

A month after Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal complained about wasteful spending in President Obama’s economic stimulus package – including money he sneered was for “something called ‘volcano monitoring’” – Alaska pilots were grateful for such expenditures.

No shit.

“You can’t resolve it with the distribution of condoms,” the pope told reporters aboard the Alitalia plane headed to Yaounde, Cameroon. “On the contrary, it increases the problem.”

Sweet evil Jesus! Just throw more gasoline on the fucking fire why don’t you? As Howard Cosell* once famously said, “If ignorance is bliss, you must be ecstatic.” Increases the problem? What problem are you talking about, your Popeness? AIDS, or unmarried sex?

You ever play the sports game where someone raises the question ‘if you could have any pitcher throughout history pitch one game and your life hung in the balance, who would you pick’? And, it’s not always baseball–I’ve heard the same question phrased in terms of quarterback, running back, power forward, etc. The point of the question is to spur discussion of the best pitchers, or whatever, of all time. You ever hear anyone say they’d pick the Pope to pitch that game? Didn’t think so. So why would anyone think the Pope has the answer in this particular life-or-death scenario? As numerous comedians like to point out, this is precisely why you shouldn’t get advice on sex from someone who’s never had sex. Yeah, it’s funny and all, but it’s also apt.

Benedict has never before spoken explicitly on condom use although he has stressed that the Roman Catholic Church is in the forefront of the battle against AIDS. The Vatican encourages sexual abstinence to fight the spread of the disease.

Ah yes, abstinence. Well, why not? It’s worked SO well thus far… The Pope is certainly sticking to what he does best: dogma. You know, as in the dogmatic adherence to failed policies even in the face of stunningly overwhelming evidence. Jesus! Abstinence doesn’t work. News flash: people are going to fuck. Now in all fairness, abstinence, in theory, could work, but it requires absolute perfection. Wanna fuck? Can’t fuck. Need to fuck? Can’t fuck. Gotta fucking fuck? Can’t fuck. Get it? Absolute perfection. And, doesn’t it seem a little, well, contradictory shall we say, to demand absolute perfection from the very people you hold to be anything but perfect?

Look, this really isn’t a complicated issue. If you want to control the spread of HIV/AIDS, why wouldn’t you utilize any methods that actually help? Condoms aren’t perfect–no one would argue that–but they are effective in stopping the spread of sexually transmitted disease, including HIV/AIDS. I just don’t think this “forefront of the battle against AIDS” thing is going to fly when you argue against the most effective means available…

Of course, if you’re only objective is to dogmatically prop up the failed policies and doctrines of the church of which you are the leader, even if it means completely ignoring the realities of life for those you claim to… (ding, ding, ding!  We have a winner!)

Oh, and by the way, Bob Gibson. No question.

By now, of course, you’re all aware of the 9-year-old in Brazil who, raped by her own stepfather and carrying twins, was granted permission by the courts to have an abortion, upon the recommendation of her doctors that the pregancy posed “serious risks” to her life (among which was the fact that she is so small, her uterus simply doesn’t have the ability to hold one, let alone two, fetuses).

Well, it comes as no surprise then, that the Catholic Church has excommunicated everyone involved–well, nearly everyone.  Nixed from “the show” were the child’s mother and her doctors.

The child, of course, was not excommunicated.  Not because damn near every civilization ever know to humanity has recognized the right to defend one’s own fucking life, no, because she’s too young to be held accountable under church law, and that’s actually pretty reasonable.

But, also not excommunicated is the 51 year old stepfather, who’s been doinking his own fucking stepdaughter for three fucking years, since the girl was 6 years old.  Six!  And why does the stepfather get a pass from the church? Well, according to Archbishop Don Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, “A graver act than (rape) is abortion, to eliminate an innocent life.”  What?  Abortion is worse than rape, so the habitually incestuous pedophiliac gets a free ride.  Good call, Archbishop doucebag, and extra points for defending your appalling and outrageous position by invoking god.

Brazilian Minister of Health Jose Gomes Temporao sees the whole issue a bit differently, however: “It is legitimate for the church to have its dogmas, but these dogmas must not be imposed on society as a whole.” Maybe it’s just me, but that sounds vaguely familiar, yes I’m sure I must have read it somewhere…

LEBANON — Developers of the proposed Bible Park USA were scrambling Wednesday to determine where the project stands after Tuesday’s surprise action by the Lebanon City Council to withdraw its support.

Mayor Philip Craighead said the $175 million project was “torpedoed” by the council’s unanimous vote to rescind all previous Bible park legislation. The ordinance was crafted by Councilman Alex Buhler, a consistent park opponent who said California-based EDG Inc. has ignored repeated requests to produce financial statements.

Job well done, council. Where there’s smoke, there is often fire…

“I am for development, but I don’t want anybody in Wilson County or Lebanon hurt by this project like they were in South Carolina,” Buhler said Wednesday.

He was referring to the $400 million Hard Rock Park, which opened in Myrtle Beach, S.C., last summer and sold recently at a bankruptcy auction for $25 million.

No shit! Hopefully, this marks the beginning of the end for Bible Park USA, at least in Wilson County, Tennessee.

What is wrong with these fucking legislators? The Tennessean newspaper reports that the State of Tennessee, as of the end of January 2009, has 7,184 children in some type of state care or supervision.  So, what’s the solution? Arbitrarily reduce the pool from which adoptive parents can be drawn.

Of course, this bill has nothing to do with children or adoption; it is simply yet another in a long line of legislative attempts to punish gays and lesbians for daring to be in any way different. The hate-mongers are getting better at subterfuge, however, for this bill, unlike previous failed attempts, doesn’t mention the real target (gays and lesbians) but rather speaks in terms of “unwed couples”. “See? It’s not gays and lesbians we have a problem with, it’s anyone who isn’t exactly like us ‘normal’ folk.” Fucking people! Do they really think we’re that stupid?

I’ll keep this one short and only make the following remark (though I could go on for days about this).  The thing that far too many people don’t understand is that there’s no such thing as a “normal” family–there’s only family, and there’s no such thing as a “normal” life–there’s only life. Not everyone is going to live their lives the way you choose to live yours. So get the fuck over it.

Associated Press:

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. – A man shot and killed himself in front of a cross inside televangelist Robert H. Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral on Wednesday as a nearby volunteer told a group of visitors about the church’s suicide-prevention program, police and church officials said.

The man handed a note and his driver’s license to two ushers, walked to the cross and then shot himself in the head as he appeared to be praying, Senior Pastor Juan Carlos Ortiz said.

NEW YORK (AP) – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin launched a political action committee Tuesday to help support candidates for federal and state office.

The committee, SarahPac, is dedicated to supporting “fresh ideas and candidates who share our vision for reform and innovation,” according to its Web site.

Personally, I don’t see a return to the Dark Ages as “reform and innovation”, but aside from the issues of freedom and equality, neither of which is supported by Gov. Palin, who merely pays lip service to both while spinning her oppressive agenda to sound progressive, I can’t help but feel that a vote for Sarah Palin is like a vote for Kelly Bundy. Maybe that’s just me.

Had to figure this was coming, though. The thirst for power is not easily quenched.

Associated Press, Future of abstinence-only funding is in limbo:

With the exit of the Bush administration, critics of abstinence-only sex education will be making an aggressive push to cut off federal funding for what they consider an ineffective, sometimes harmful program.

[...]

Obama is considered an advocate of comprehensive sex education, which – unlike abstinence-only curriculum – includes advice to young people about using contraceptives if they do engage in sexual activity.

Halle-fucking-lujah!

You know, it’s really sad that so many fundamentalist Christians act towards their own children just as despicably as their “god” supposedly acts toward them. Study after study finds that abstinence-only education results in kids who are no less likely to have sex before marriage (or whatever criteria you choose: before a certain age, before college, or before dinner…) but are far less likely to use any form of protection against either pregnancy or the spread of disease when they do have sex. And who wants that?

“Don’t have sex before marriage Suzy, but if you do, I hope you either get pregnant or contract an incurable STD, because I love you so much.”

Savana Redding, an eighth grade honor roll student at Safford Middle School in Safford, Arizona, was pulled from class on October 8, 2003 by the school’s vice principal, Kerry Wilson. Earlier that day, Wilson had discovered prescription-strength ibuprofen – 400 milligram pills equivalent to two over-the-counter ibuprofen pills, such as Advil – in the possession of Redding’s classmate. Under questioning and faced with punishment, the classmate claimed that Redding, who had no history of disciplinary problems or substance abuse, had given her the pills. Safford maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward all prescription medicines, including prescription-strength ibuprofen.

After escorting Redding to his office, Wilson presented Redding with the ibuprofen pills and informed her of her classmate’s accusations. Redding said she had never seen the pills before and agreed to a search of her possessions, wanting to prove she had nothing to hide. Joined by a female school administrative assistant, Wilson searched Redding’s backpack and found nothing. Instructed by Wilson, the administrative assistant then took Redding to the school nurse’s office in order to perform a strip search.

In the school nurse’s office, Redding was ordered to strip to her underwear. She was then commanded to pull her bra out and to the side, exposing her breasts, and to pull her underwear out at the crotch, exposing her pelvic area. The strip search failed to uncover any ibuprofen pills.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the school:

A federal appeals court ruled the school and school officials violated the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment right that protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.

It said alleged ibuprofen possession was “an infraction that poses an imminent danger to no one.” Instead of forcing Redding to disrobe, school officials could have kept her in the principal’s office until a parent arrived or could have sent her home.

And:

The court wrote: “Common sense informs us that directing a 13-year-old girl to remove her clothes, partially revealing her breasts and pelvic area, for allegedly possessing ibuprofen … was excessively intrusive.”

The court said the school went too far in its effort to create a drug- and crime-free classroom. “The overzealousness of school administrators in efforts to protect students has the tragic impact of traumatizing those they claim to serve. And all this to find prescription-strength ibuprofen.”

My daughter is 11. I’d have goddamned-well sued too.

Tough cases make bad law, or so the ages-old legal aphorism states. I had a law professor for criminal procedure who always used to say:

Somewhere a line must be drawn. Cases that fall close to the line will make the line appear arbitrary, which of course every line is.

If this were one of those cases that falls close to the line, it would be easy to side with the school, and chalk it up to being a “tough case” or justify the school official’s actions by rationalizing that they are in a better position to make these kinds of discretionary judgment calls (better to have caught a child merely passing out ibuprofen than not catch the kid with heroin*). But this is not a tough case, or a case that falls near the line. This case falls way past the line, and the school officials in question should know that.

The Court of Appeals got this one right. It’ll be interesting to see the rationale the Extreme Court uses when they fuck this one up.

nkb

* Even though this line of reasoning runs counter to another of the fundamental principles of our legal system: better that ten guilty men go free than one innocent man go to prison.

Fox News (of all places), Prostitute-Rating Web Site Lands Ohio Man in Jail:

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Columbus police have arrested a man they say was responsible for a Web site where customers could post reviews of prostitutes.

[...]

Police say he also helped organize a $10-a-ticket raffle that offered an evening with a prostitute.

[...]

[Robert Eric] McFadden formerly served as director of the Faith-Based and Community Initiatives office under Gov. Ted Strickland.

Director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives!  I guess the argument could be made that he’s still involved with “community initiatives”, what the the raffle for a night with a prostitute and all…

Teen abstinence programs don’t work.

When it comes to pledges of abstinence “no pledge” is every bit as effective as “any pledge” or even a hundred of them.

These programs and pledges do accomplish two things, however, one of which is meaningless and one of which is terribly dangerous: (1) they make nervous parents “feel” better, and (2) the kids who make these kinds of pledges are far less likely to use any form of protection against either pregnancy or the spread of disease when they do have sex. Good job.

Premarital Abstinence Pledges Ineffective, Study Finds:

Teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and are significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth control when they do, according to a study released today.

The new analysis of data from a large federal survey found that more than half of youths became sexually active before marriage regardless of whether they had taken a “virginity pledge,” but that the percentage who took precautions against pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases was 10 points lower for pledgers than for non-pledgers.

“Taking a pledge doesn’t seem to make any difference at all in any sexual behavior,” said Janet E. Rosenbaum of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, whose report appears in the January issue of the journal Pediatrics. “But it does seem to make a difference in condom use and other forms of birth control that is quite striking.”

Winfrey’s Chicago-based Harpo Productions says the talk show host is on hiatus and not available for comment.

Now, that’s an impressive statement. Not even a canned acceptance, just a “no comment”.

Can’t say I blame her.  I mean, PETA kills animals. Not to mention their financial support of domestic terrorists…

At this season of the Winter Solstice may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.

In 2006, a Jewish group sponsored a menorah in the Capitol, to accompany the long-standing tradition of the Christmas tree. This was answered the following year by a nativity scene.

Problem? Not for the people of Washington–at least not initially–and not for the sponsor of the nativity scene:

Asked whether he was bothered by the atheist display next to his Nativity scene, Wesselius said, “I think the Nativity scene will speak for itself.” But he added, “I appreciate freedom of speech and freedom of access. That’s why they’re in there, and hey – you know, that’s great.”

Well-reasoned response. So what is the problem? Well, apparently, freedom of speech is quite offensive to conservative TV personality Bill O’Reilly. Personally, I’ve always been of the opinion that Constitutionally protected rights were among the most traditional of American values. Mr. O’Reilly must be of a different opinion, for he urged his viewers to call the Governor’s office and complain (“Yeah, my name is Joe the Blowhole, and I’m calling to protest this exercise of the Freedom of Speech. I don’t like it when people who don’t believe what I believe actually exercise their rights…”). Whatever.

America truly is “advanced citizenship“. Mr. O’Reilly just doesn’t “get it”. Ironically, this Freedom of Speech that pisses off Mr. O’Reilly is the very Constitutional right that allows him to make such an ass of himself by displaying his remarkable ignorance of basic Constitutional law.

[via EvolutionBlog]

FRANKFORT, Kentucky – A group of atheists filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to remove part of a state anti-terrorism law that requires Kentucky’s Office of Homeland Security to acknowledge it can’t keep the state safe without God’s help.

What the fuck? This is so patentently offensive as to be beyond imaginination. And, if you can’t see how I could call it patently offensive, just substitute any “other god” in the above statement: Buddah, Vishnu, Xenu, Zeus, Jupiter… What? Don’t want to bow down to Zeus? How about The Beatles? or trees? or extraterrestrials? or, as George Carlin famously suggested, Joe Pesci?

Or, how about “a bottle of whiskey and two hookers”?

…state anti-terrorism law that requires Kentucky’s Office of Homeland Security to acknowledge it can’t keep the state safe without the help of a bottle of whiskey and two hookers.

How’s that sound? I think it sounds better (not to mention, more realistic), but maybe that’s just me.

I do agree with his premise: church attendance would increase if people would just stop learning and thinking. It is definitely one hell of a lot easier to be a Christian (or Jew or Muslim, for that matter) if you just don’t think too much. And why should you think for yourself? Those nice priests will be more than happy to do the thinking for you, and then tell you what to do/believe/feel/etc. What a load of crap.

As is so often the case, vjack quite succinctly states what would take me five paragraphs to express:

Yes, religion has long been the enemy of reason, but there is something truly despicable about religiously-motivated anti-intellectualism.

Despicable indeed.

[via Atheist Revolution]

Well, my goal is to tell people about the truth, uh, that I believe the truth of the Bible states…

Ay, there’s the rub. Again we see, the Bible notwithstanding, that it always comes back to belief. It doesn’t get any clearer than this! The good Pastor Holick states he is basing his views upon his beliefs regarding the “truths” contained in the Bible.

In that regard, any random Doonesbury comic strip is just as authoritative and compelling a source as the Bible. Nice try.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him “constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil.”

The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.

Sweet evil Jesus! Voting has become a mortal sin? Really? Well, good luck with that.

According to national exit polls, 54 percent of Catholics chose Obama, who is Protestant. In South Carolina, which McCain carried, voters in Greenville County — traditionally seen as among the state’s most conservative areas — went 61 percent for the Republican, and 37 percent for Obama.

Oops, no wonder the “fadda” is so pissed, he’s losing the hearts and minds of his flock… 37% of them anyway…

W H A T   T H E   F U C K ???

Isn’t this much like “insulting” someone by referring to their “abduction” by aliens from the planet “golrop”, when in fact their claim is that they were “abducted” by aliens from the planet “thurblot”???

Sweet evil Jesus!  What the fuck is going on? 

Yes, Obama misspoke. He implied that Nancy Reagan was a fucking lunatic (pun intended) because of participating in séances, an assertion for which there is no evidence. And let’s be clear here, the assertion for which there is no evidence is that she participated in séances, not that she’s a fucking lunatic — the astrologer consultations provide ample evidence to support that assertion.

Oh, how I’d have loved to listen in on that conversation:

“Hello, Nancy? This is Barack Obama. I’m calling to apologize for joking today that you participated in séances during the time that you were First Lady. It was a careless and senseless comment. It’s quite apparent to all Americans that a woman such as yourself who not only actively sought to, but in fact often did, alter your husband’s schedule during your time in the White House on the say-so of an astrologer is not nearly that ignorant or looney. So sorry.”

And yes, I understand that he was making a joke at another person’s expense, and I agree that he should have apologized–for that.

But come on! Our nation almost elected as Vice President a person who believes that humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time! Maybe, and I don’t think it’s too much of an understatement to say that I’m not exactly going out on a limb here, but, maybe it’s time that we rational thinkers started more aggressively taking to task those of our species who insist on believing weird (and unsubstantiated) things.

“Yes, honey, it’s a cartoon, but it’s based on real history. It’s called The Flintstones, and you’ll like it.”

Bullshit.

Joe the Plumber conceded Monday night that Republican John McCain has a slim chance of defeating Democrat Barack Obama in the race for the White House.

And you know he’s disappointed, what with just having hired a management and publicity team and all. I’m still not really sure why he needed the PR firm to fulfill his “American dream” of buying his bosses plumbing business, but hey, what do I know?

Over the last week, Palin’s relationship with the McCain campaign has been the focus of intense scrutiny. In various reporting, she has been described as “rogue”; called a “whack job”; accused of alienating everyone on the McCain campaign staff and described as distant even from her family.

Palin insisted none of it is true, and she challenged the unnamed sources to come forward and say it to her face.

“I have never met any of those who I have heard to have written something or say something negative,” Palin said. “I would love to meet these people, have a conversation instead of them superficially making a statement like that. It would be nice if they would take it a step further and at least interview me.”

At least interview me?  How?

“Apple should pull the plug on the iPhone… What Apple risks here is its reputation as a hot company that can do no wrong. If it’s smart it will call the iPhone a ‘reference design’ and pass it to some suckers to build with someone else’s marketing budget. Then it can wash its hands of any marketplace failures… Otherwise I’d advise people to cover their eyes. You are not going to like what you’ll see.” – John C. Dvorak, Bloated Gas Bag, March 28, 2007

“I’m more convinced than ever that, after an initial frenzy of publicity and sales to early adopters, iPhone sales will be unspectacular… iPhone may well become Apple’s next Newton.” – David Haskin, Computerworld, February 26, 2007

“I can’t believe the hype being given to iPhone… I just have to wonder who will want one of these things (other than the religious faithful)… So please mark this post and come back in two years to see the results of my prediction: I predict they will not sell anywhere near the 10M Jobs predicts for 2008.” – Richard Sprague, Microsoft Senior Marketing Director, January 18, 2007

“The iPhone is nothing more than a luxury bauble that will appeal to a few gadget freaks. In terms of its impact on the industry, the iPhone is less relevant… Apple is unlikely to make much of an impact on this market… Apple will sell a few to its fans, but the iPhone won’t make a long-term mark on the industry.” – Matthew Lynn, Bloomberg, January 15, 2007

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, and Republican Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida Friday asked American International Group Inc., to stop using taxpayer money in its effort to soften new federal controls over the mortgage industry.

Even after receiving an emergency loan that gave the government an 80% ownership stake in AIG, the company has continued to lobby states implementing a federal law that subjects mortgage originators to greater scrutiny, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Executive retreats are one thing. But using taxpayer bailout money to lobby states to minimize the impact of a federal law designed to increase “protections against misrepresentations, deception and fraud in mortgage lending”? Fuck me!

I’m just waiting for the “three strikes” provisions of the bailout to kick in.  They did put in some sort of “three strikes” provisions, right?

My take on the debate: who cares? I only watched so that I’d have the proper context to be able to fully understand all the humorous references in this weekend’s SNL opening sketch! I don’t think Obama did a great job by any measure^*, but McCain just really had me scratching my head. Here’s a few examples:

• So you’re answer to the question about “negative campaigning” is that Obama didn’t agree to have ten or so “town hall” type debates with you? What? You sound like my kids! “Well, he started it!” Not very “presidential” to be seen passing the buck, eh?
• It’s one thing to make unsubstantiated allegations based on nothing more than innuendo once or twice or a hundred times, but at this late stage to still be making clearly false statements like McCain made about Obama ‘launching his political career’ in Bill Ayers’ living room is just, well, where I come from it’s called “lying” and being a “sore loser”. This whole Ayers-Acorn bit just made McCain sound like a “conspiracy theorist”. What happened to the “straight talk”?
• Trying to paint your opponent as wanting bigger government and wanting to expand “socialist” programs at the same time you’re advocating the federal government getting into the mortgage business probably isn’t the most effective tactic. I for one hate to see what’s happening in the now-eclipsed “mortgage crisis”, and agree that something probably needs to be done, but it would be an understatement to say that I’m less than thrilled at the prospect of the federal government becoming the new “homeowner’s association”.
• Now, let me get this straight: as president, Obama would take a completely “ideological” approach to nominating Supreme Court Justices, while you simply would only nominate someone who shares your system of beliefs. Uh, ok, yeah, TUH-MAY-TOE, TUH-MAAHH-TOE. Nice try!
• When did “taking on members of your own party” become a litmus test for “quality public servant”? What if the members of your own party are right, is it still automatically a good thing to be all mavericky?
• And lastly, Senator McCain, surely someone involved with your campaign has explained to you just what the fuck a planetarium is, no? Even if you still think educating kids is a boondoggle (you ‘ole maverick!), surely someone has explained to you the difference between an “overhead projector” and “a venerable piece of precision fabricated equipment” and marvel of engineering? Haven’t they? All they have to do is a quick search on the Interthingy…

Don’t get me wrong folks. I wouldn’t classify either of these candidates as “among the best and brightest” (well, Obama is bright, after all, he chooses his words carefully, and he’s eloquent — and somehow both of these sound like bad things when McCain says it), but fuck me — one of them is going to be the next President!

In my humble opinion, it needs to be Obama. He may be eloquent and all (I still don’t understand how that’s a bad thing), but I’m really put-off by McCain’s increasingly frequent bucketed trips to the well of half-truths, misstatement and innuendo, but maybe that’s just me… (Damn! Took my best shot at eloquence and it came out trite!)

My problem is this: when did my “right” to vote become a “requirement”?

And don’t give me the line about how rights carry with them responsibilities. Bullshit! That is nothing more than a worthless platitude that applies only to voting. And, before you tell me how wrong I am, just take a moment and think about all the other rights we enjoy is this country and think about which of those also carry a responsibility to exercise that right. Free speech? No. Religion? No. Abortion? No. Privacy? No. Bear arms? No… Starting to get my point?

Those of you who read this blog regularly — both of you — know that first and foremost I’m for freedom. And freedom means nothing if I’m required to exercise my “rights”. It’s an oxymoron, like “mandatory volunteerism”.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that anyone not vote. I vote. I may vote for whoever has the coolest looking campaign placards, but goddamn it, I vote! (That’s a joke people, ok?  It would be really stupid to vote based on that criterion. Come on, give me some credit! I vote for whoever is a Mac user and if more than one candidate (or no candidate) is a Mac user, only then do I go to the “coolest looking placards” criterion).

Am I a crackpot? Well, sure, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong and doesn’t mean I’m alone. I think Penn Jillette said it best when he said:

“Freedom means the right to be stupid.”

– PennRadio podcast, September 15, 2006.

I’m sure this suspension will do the trick and after serving a four game suspension, during which his conduct will be exemplary, we won’t hear anything else about anyone having any trouble with Adam Jones off the field!!!

I’m losing count of Pacman’s “second chances”, but this one’s the charm, of that I’m certain. (Yeah, right!)

Or, and I’m just speculating here, he could be beyond redemption, at least in a football sense. It could be that he’s not a quality individual of good character. It could be that his obvious football talent will never outweigh the destructive force that he brings to an organization and a locker room. Good luck, Cowboys!

So anyway, I just inadvertently came across a prime example of Christian propaganda:

The doctrine of the Trinity — that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are each equally and eternally the one true God — is admittedly difficult to comprehend, and yet is the very foundation of Christian truth. Although skeptics may ridicule it as a mathematical impossibility, it is nevertheless a basic doctrine of Scripture as well as profoundly realistic in both universal experience and in the scientific understanding of the cosmos.

Uhhhhh, say what? Ok. Now, I’m confused. The holy trinity is “realistic … in the scientific understanding of the cosmos”??? Really??? Oh wait, I see, this is another “Christian truth”.  Well, that’s the problem — I’ve always tried to stick to the “regular” kind.

However, at the risk of being accused of splitting hairs… I take issue with her response:

“I would hope at least that those protestors have the courage and the honor of thanking our veterans for giving them the right to protest.”

What? Veterans give us the right to protest?

Now, let me preface this by stating clearly that I have the greatest respect for members and veterans of the United States military. No one can question the bravery, dedication, sacrifice and heroism of the men and women who defend our country and of those that have come before. No one. But, let’s be clear on this point, too: neither veterans nor the military give (or have given) us the Freedom of Speech. Certainly veterans have defended (and/or stood at the ready to defend) our right of Free Speech, but never have they given that right to us. A subtle distinction, perhaps, but an important one nonetheless.

And when did protest become a pejorative? Like it or not, protesters are not being un-American. In a strange twist (but one that was both contemplated and deliberated by our founding fathers) protesting America is not un-American. How can the exercise of Constitutionally-protected rights be viewed as un-American? It can’t. Unusual concept? Sure. But for fuck’s sake, if you can wrap your brain around a notion like the Holy Trinity and still see Christianity as mono-theism, then this concept should be no problem! Take a look at my America page, it might help…

Hey, I don’t like most of it any more than you do. Seeing the now-notorious Westboro Baptist Church protesting at military funerals just makes my fucking blood boil. (I say “now-notorious” because most people who are disgusted by their protest of military funerals either didn’t give a shit, or outright agreed with these fucking wackos when they were “just” spewing their “god hates fags” bile a few years ago.) But, distasteful and disgusting as it may be, they too have rights. And if you can’t accept that, then you are the one being un-American.

I’m a software developer by trade. I know, I know, you’d never guess that from my handle, thecodepounder, right? Well, be that as it may, I write software for a living (I wouldn’t presume to describe my job in resume’-terms on this blog, e.g. “conceive, design, write and implement world-class solutions, the brilliance of which tend to make other developers crap their pants, blah, blah, blah” — you get the point).

So, I have this little plugin I wrote for the purpose of centralizing some code and to save myself some time as I play around with my WordPress theme. No big deal. This plugin has been working flawlessly for several months. I’ve updated it fairly regularly and never had a problem. Never a problem, that is, until yesterday…

I was tweaking the theme this weekend and, in so doing, added about a half dozen functions to the plugin in question. Again, no big deal by any stretch of the imagination. I tested the new code on my test site, and when I was satisfied that it was working properly, I moved the code into the plugin file on this site. Cool, or so I thought.

Last night just before I went to bed, however, I noticed that the “Write Post” page was not displaying properly. The “post box” was displaying the “Visual” and “HTML” tabs with the “Visual” tab selected, but the “HTML” button were being displayed. Weird. I took a stab at diagnosing the problem and didn’t see anything obvious, so I went to bed, since the site was still displaying properly…

Well, all told, between last night and this afternoon after work, I have spent about two hours diagnosing the problem. I have removed code from the plugin — function by function, removed calls into the plugin from my theme, jumping back and forth to the “Write Post” page (and verifying that the site was loading properly) after each and every change. Eventually I got all my code back to the state it was in on Friday afternoon, before this weekend’s work, and I still had the problem on the “Write Post” page!

Fuck! Even with all the weekend’s changes backed out of the plugin and theme files, I was still screwed Deactivate the plugin and “Write Post” page works, activate plugin and it doesn’t. Crap! Clearly a problem with this particular plugin, but what the hell it could be now that it was back to last working state I hadn’t a clue.

Well, it’s been my experience, in the realm of software, that when you find yourself saying anything along the lines of “it couldn’t possibly be that — that has been working for <insert appropriate period of time>” you should definitely check that thoroughly! So, I began removing all calls into the plugin from my theme. This took a little while, but I got my test site to the point where I could deactivate the plugin and the site would display without a “call to undefined function” error (but missing the content contained in the plugin).

At this point, I activated the plugin and started removing code — maybe I inadvertently fat-fingered something in the existing code that wasn’t readily apparent. Remove a function, check the “Write Post” page.  Function by function, I deleted everything, to no avail. My plugin looked like this:

<?php
/*
Plugin Name, etc.
*/

?>

 

and still the “Write Post” page wouldn’t work right with the plugin activated.

Which is when I noticed something that really made me say, “well, it couldn’t be that…”

“What was that“, you ask?

Well, that was a CR/LF following the php-close tag: ?> (as you can now see in the blockquote above). That’s right, somehow I managed to insert a couple CR/LF characters after the ?> tag at the end of the plugin file!

Remove the extra CR/LF at the end of the file so that the plugin looked like this:

<?php
/*
Plugin Name, etc.
*/

?>

and everything is fine. Insert even a single CR/LF after the ?> tag and it’s shitsville all over again!

So, problem solved, at least for me. It won’t take that long to put things back the way they were. I only hope that this tale of woe might help someone else who’s having a really shitty problem with a plugin (though, regrettably, most plugin problems have nothing to do with this situation, and will not be easily solved).

The bigger questions are: why is a fucking CR/LF a problem in this situation? Is this situation really so unforeseeable that it can’t be solved programmatically in the first place? But, that’s a topic for another day…

Good luck.

“A vote for Barack Obama is a vote for activist courts that will continue to smother the open and democratic debate that we deserve and that we need on this issue of life,” she said. “Obama is a politician who has long since left behind even the middle ground on the issue of life.”

This is the same person who wants “open and democratic debate” about teaching fairy tales in our public school science classrooms.  Sarah Palin is anti-freedom, plain and simple, and nothing more elegant than that.

Don’t be fooled by her rhetoric: she favors “open and democratic debate” but only so long as it results in her beliefs becoming law.

UPDATE: Her record on the Separation of Church and State isn’t exactly stellar, either:

An Associated Press review of the Republican vice presidential candidate’s record as Wasilla mayor and Alaska governor reveals her use of elected office to promote religious causes, sometimes at taxpayer expense and in ways that blur the line between church and state.

Palin also is one of just two governors who channeled federal money to support religious groups through a state agency, Alaska’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Palin has made it a priority to unite faith communities, local nonprofits and government to serve the needy, bringing her high marks – and $500,000 – from the Bush administration.

In fiscal year 2008, Alaska was one of only four states to receive $500,000 in federal grant money from the national initiative.

“The governor has a healthy appreciation for faith-based groups that serve Alaskans in need,” said Jay Hein, who until recently directed national faith-based initiatives at the White House. “The grant speaks to their organizational strength, and the dynamism of Alaska’s operation.”

Several Catholic and Christian charities received funding, including $20,000 for a Fairbanks homeless shelter that views itself as a “stable door of evangelism and Christian service” and $36,000 for a drop-in center at an Anchorage mall that seeks to demonstrate “the unconditional love of Jesus to teenagers.”

And we know that religious groups that take federal “faith-based initiative” money never cross the line, right? Yeah, right!

Well, shock of shocks — it turns out McCain’s characterization of this was all wrong. In fact, I would call it a lie. He knows it wasn’t for an overhead projector, a piece of classroom equipment that costs a couple of hundred dollars. That money was for Adler’s Zeiss Mark VI star projector: a venerable piece of precision fabricated equipment that projects the stars, constellations, and other objects inside the planetarium dome.

Go read the rest of the article — now.

And let’s all join John McCain in his quest to finally end the financially wasteful education of children. [/sarchasm]

Calling a Zeiss projector an “overhead projector” is like:

• calling an aircraft carrier a “troop transport”,
• calling Warren Buffet or Bill Gates “rich”,
• calling the Sun a “ball of hot gas”,
• calling a sex “pleasurable”, or
• calling John McCain a “straight talker”.

And don’t get me wrong: I don’t see this as “yet another example” of John McCain being anti-science. I mean, he is anti-science — compeltely (and that’s really beyond debate at this point) — but not because of this remark.

I think I am going to use my recent post, “Be an Atheist Activist in 30 Minutes a Week,” to inspire a new series of posts on atheist activism. I am calling the series “The 30 Minute Activist” to emphasize the point that one can make a significant difference by devoting a mere 30 minutes a week to atheist activism. While our Christian neighbors are wasting time in church, we can do something worthwhile to benefit our fellow atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, and freethinkers. After all, effective activism does not have to be complicated or difficult.

This is a truly excellent idea and promises to be an extremely helpful and informative series.

Real freedom and genuine equality benefits every American. vjack’s original post “Be an Atheist Activist in 30 Minutes a Week” really resonated with me and does an excellent job of illustrating the fact that you don’t have to lead a march on Washington in order to contribute something of value and make a tangible difference.

Palin told FOX News’ Sean Hannity that it was “unfair” for Barack Obama to criticize McCain earlier in the week for saying “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.” She said McCain was clearly talking about the workforce.

“It was an unfair attack on the verbiage that Senator McCain chose to use, because … he means our workforce, he means the ingenuity of the American people,” Palin said. “And of course that is strong and that is the foundation of our economy. So that was an unfair attack there.”

Barack Obama may be black, but he’s not a kettle and McCain’s statement wasn’t taken out of context.

“Certainly it is a mess though. The economy is a mess,” Palin said. “And there have been abuses on Wall Street, and that adversely affects Main Street.”

Now that’s what I call economic insight. ‘Wall Street has an affect on Main Street’–see that’s why I’m not prepared to be VP. I not very good at thinking up catchy, sound-bite ready, meaningless platitudes!

She said McCain wants to reform Wall Street by “stopping the abuses and that violation of the pubic trust.”

And what’s the best way to reform Wall Street? Why, McCain’s plan is to start by slapping them with a big, fat, juicy tax break. Yeah, that’ll teach the sumbiches!

“Officials are held accountable for their calls. They are graded on every play of every game,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Monday. “Ed has been an outstanding official for many years, but he will be marked down for this call. Under our evaluation system, an official’s grades impact his status for potentially working the playoffs and ultimately whether or not he is retained.”

Tuesday:

“No one feels worse about this than Ed, but like the coaches and players in our high-speed game, mistakes will occur,” NFLRA executive director Tim Millis said in a statement.

“The NFLRA stands by Ed Hochuli as a 19-year veteran with multiple Super Bowl and countless playoff game experience who has the integrity and character to admit a mistake and accept the criticism that comes with it.”

Jeebus! Get over it. Bad calls are a part of the game, but the NFL does a truly excellent job of maintaining a high level of officiating, and Ed Hochuli has consistently been among the the top referees in the game, Jerry Jones’ flawed recollections notwithstanding (he’s still pissed about what was actually a correct call during the 1993 Thanksgiving game between Dallas and Miami–oh and please, Mr. Jones, don’t let the fact that YOU are WRONG deter you from slandering one of the top referees in the league, OK? Fuck me running!)

I admire Ed Hochuli for admitting his mistake–that’s called being a man, and it shows great character.

Besides, despite all the hoopla, no reasonable person can truly be offended by a bad call–they happen in every single game.  What people are really upset about, whether they know it or not, is the so-called “inadvertent whistle” rule, which is why this particular bad call couldn’t be corrected upon review. But it’s easier to shake a fist in the air and blather on and on about how terrible Ed Hohuli is as a referee, isn’t it?

Carly Fiorina, a key surrogate for John McCain on economic issues, said on Tuesday that Sarah Palin does not have the experience needed to run a major company like the one that Fiorina formerly headed.

“Do you think [Sarah Palin] has the experience to run a major company, like Hewlett Packard?” asked the host.

“No, I don’t,” responded Fiorina. “But you know what? That’s not what she’s running for.”

uh, right–right. No sense choosing a running mate who could actually take over if anything happened to the president and the 25th Amendment had to be invoked. I mean, I’m the first person to jokingly refer to the Vice President as having the unofficial job title of “National Golfer and State Funeral Attendee”. But, that doesn’t mean the VP never has to step up to the plate.

Besides, with the economy slowing and what seems like the whole of Wall Street collapsing along with the housing market and mortgage industry, we don’t need candidates who understand business, do we?

Of course, Fiorina may not be the best person to ask about anyone’s qualifications to “run a major company”–her own performance running HP wasn’t exactly stellar, was it?

Move over, Al Gore. You may lay claim to the Internet, but John McCain helped create the BlackBerry.

At least that’s the contention of a top McCain policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin. Waving his BlackBerry personal digital assistant and citing McCain’s work as a senator, he told reporters Tuesday, “You’re looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create.”

’nuff said.

On the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, Gov. Sarah Palin took a hard-line approach on national security and said that war with Russia may be necessary if Georgia were to join NATO and be invaded by Russia.

What the fuck? Almost 25 years after Ronald Reagan brought down the ‘evil empire’ foreign policy expert Sarah Palin is threatening war with Russia?

“And we’ve got to keep an eye on Russia. For Russia to have exerted such pressure in terms of invading a smaller democratic country, unprovoked, is unacceptable,” she told Gibson.

Excuse me while I whittle away at the irony with my bowie knife…  

Holy Jeebus!  I hope this isn’t what she has been referring to as shaking up Washington.

This is ridiculous! The comment containing the false claim and the following comments that point out the falsity of that claim are all a week old, and someone is still linking to it thinking it’s true. Due diligence? Skepticism?

Come on! The attempted book-banning and retributive firing of the town’s librarian is enough of an indictment on its own^*; it doesn’t need embellishing…

UPDATE: Check this out (and watch the video from ABC News).

Democtatic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama had this to say:

I’ve heard some of the news on this, and so let me be as clear as possible. I have said before and I will repeat again: I think people’s families are off limits. And people’s children are especially off limits. This shouldn’t be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Governor Palin’s performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president. And so I would strongly urge people to back off of these kinds of stories.

You know, my mother had me when she was 18. And so how family deals with issues and, you know, teenage children, that shouldn’t be the topic of our politics. And I hope that anybody who’s supporting me understands that’s off limits.

I can’t find a quote from presumptive Republican Presidential nominee John McCain, but both the Palins:

We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents.

and McCain campaign aides:

Bristol Palin made the decision on her own to keep the baby, McCain aides said.

have both emphasized that Bristol Palin made her own free choice and is not being pressured into anything, because of her mother’s involvement in the Presidential Race.

Interesting, no? I mean, Sarah Palin and John McCain both want to eliminate this “decision”–not only for their own daughters, but for every pregnant woman in the country.  They both want there to be no decision, so why play up the whole ’she made her own decision’ angle? Weird.

Palin’s selection was a stunning surprise, as McCain passed over many other better-known prospects, some of whom had been the subject of intense speculation for weeks or months.

Obviously, McSame picked the governor for her vast experience: Palin served multiple terms as City Council member and even Mayor of an Alaskan town of almost 5,500 population, before being elected Governor of Alaska almost two whole years ago.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for electing non-career politicians, but then I haven’t been trying to scare everyone around me into thinking that anyone under 70 and without years and years of experience as a Washington insider is simply unqualified to be a part of any Administration… Yeah, maybe you can sell that to the octogenarians, or to those too young to know the difference, but you aren’t going to convince many in the 35-55 demographic.

Even the Wasington Times had this to say:

Although Mrs. Palin is exactly the same age as Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama — who Mr. McCain says is too inexperienced to become commander in chief — the pick by the 72-year-old Republican is a nod to the concern that some voters see the Arizona senator as too old.

(The Wasington Times went on to point out that Attila the Hun, who had also been considered a possible McSame selection was “too left-wing, too liberal” for their tastes and the he doesn’t share their “moderate, mainstream views”!)

Well, no one ever said that you had to be consistent or honest to be in politics. I mean, it’s not like Democratic nominee OhMama has been completely consistent or honest either… but maybe a little less transparent.

In fact, six U.S. cities have been found guilty of shortening the yellow light cycles below what is allowed by law on intersections equipped with cameras meant to catch red-light runners. Those local governments have completely ignored the safety benefit of increasing the yellow light time and decided to install red-light cameras, shorten the yellow light duration, and collect the profits instead.

The cities in question include Union City, CA, Dallas and Lubbock, TX, Nashville and Chattanooga, TN, and Springfield, MO, according to Motorists.org, which collected information from reports from around the country. This isn’t the first time traffic cameras have been questioned as to their effectiveness in preventing accidents. In one case, the local government was forced to issue refunds by more than $1 million to motorists who were issued tickets for running red lights.

Great example of our government at work.

(emphasis added)

Watch out Middle-Tennessee! A quick search of NewsChannel5.com and Google reveals that Murfreesboro and Gallatin both have “red-light” cameras and that Brentwood, Clarksville and Cookeville are considering them. As the linked article notes, study after study indicate that red-light cameras, despite best intentions, actually increase accidents and injuries.

Good luck!

[via Daring Fireball]

Sure, age is often an issue–Maurice Clarett sued the NFL in an attempt to be considered for the draft at the age of “Wow, I just got my driver’s license–neat!” But the NFL’s concern was that he was too young and might get his head knocked off, not that he was too young and therefore too good.

And, of course, there was that baseball player a few years back in the Little League World Series who drove himself to the game each day after having a couple beers with the boys down at the corner pub–well, at least when his wife wasn’t using the car.

But, there is something that just doesn’t look right about the Chinese girls gymnastics team. Maybe it’s that most of them look like they’d be eligible to be invited to my 11 year old daughter’s next sleepover. Or maybe it’s that one or two of them are still in Pull-Ups®, I don’t know.