A reminder to myself

Don't watch the Presidential Recital tonight. It's all too well plannned and spun. Besides all the usual pundits will have their say tomorrow (and we'll all be sick of it before lunch). I have a drive to do and then I'll go medicate myself at the tavern. Yeah Beer!

Toy Cars

Sometime there are some really clever ideas. This is one I thought was more entertaining than most. (I linked into to a page I liked instead of the home page, but it's all good.)

http://dubster.com/cars/index.asp?id=230

Kinda reminds me of the 'Kids in the Hall' I'm crushing your head!

One for the Good Guys

I was complaining a couple of weeks back about the stupidty of the Patent Office

http://indigenousgeek.blogspot.com/2004/09/
silly-but-just-little-chilling-too.html#comments

Well the good guys win one
Patent Office Rejects Microsoft's FAT Patent
http://www.pubpat.org/Microsoft_517_Rejected.htm

It was a bad attempt on MS's part to try and keep control of more than just desktop computers.
Pubpat.org should be praised for their efforts. Keep up the good work guys!

Of Course He'll Appeal

This is exactlly what has me most infurriated with GWB and the bunch of neo-clowns that are pretending to be good republicans. Ashcroft is the worst AG since Ed Meese.
He really seems to think that all this gestapo shit he pulls is constitutional.
This is the guy that lost an election to a dead man so they made him the country's top cop. He is constantly using the threat of terrorists to take away everyone's rights.
We don't need four more years of this.

article........

SCHEVENINGEN, Netherlands (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said on Thursday the Bush administration was likely to appeal against a U.S. District Court ruling that part of the Patriot Act was unconstitutional.

"Without knowing the specifics, I wouldn't be able to assure you that the case would be appealed, but it is almost a certainty that it would be appealed," Ashcroft told reporters after meeting European Union justice and interior ministers.

"We believe the act to be completely consistent with the United States' Constitution," he added.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero ruled that surveillance powers granted to the FBI under the Patriot Act, a cornerstone of the U.S. war on terror, were unconstitutional.

snip.......

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6375762

The Christian Right

I had a little time this morning so I caught up on my on-line comic reading.
One of my favorites is Sinfest by Tatsuya Ishida

http://sinfest.net/d/20040904.html



About a week ago I was reading where Jerry Falwell was bragging that he was now the king maker of the Republican party. He didn't say it like that but it's what he meant.

article.......

WASHINGTON — The Rev. Jerry Falwell boasted Friday that evangelical Christians, after nearly 25 years of increasing political activism, now control the Republican Party and the fate of President Bush in the November election.

"The Republican Party does not have the head count to elect a president without the support of religious conservatives," Falwell said at an election training conference of the Christian Coalition.

Falwell said evangelical Christians are now "by far the largest constituency" within the Republican Party, their route to dominance beginning in 1979 with his founding of the Moral Majority, a precursor to the Christian Coalition.

snip.......
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/
shared/news/politics/stories/09/25christian.html

Only Two Stores in Town

While reading Doc Searls today I found this pointer. I think it says alot about our political situation.
article..........

The same has happened to Main Street, there’s nothing real left to buy on Main Street anymore. You have to go to the mall, where the same 20 chains – Gap, WalMart, Williams Sonoma, Calvin Klein – sell the same things that they sell at every mall. Nothing local’s left. Nothing real.

And the same thing has happened to American politics. The same two chains – Republicans and Democrats – are the only two stores in town. There’s no longer a place to have a conversation about what matters in America. All the real conversations have been relegated to the far back corner, if you can even find them at all.

snip..........
http://cornwall.backtalk.com/articles/the-7-11-ification-of-politics/

Debates for Dummies

Funny
article..............

Debates for Dummies

Bush, Kerry camps tussle over which candidate has less intelligence

WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY

By Andy Borowitz

Newsweek

Updated: 4:30 p.m. ET Sept. 28, 2004

Sept. 28 - In what some political insiders are calling an attempt to lower expectations in the days leading up to the first presidential debate, the White House today announced that President George W. Bush has an IQ of 67.

snip.............

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6125258/site/newsweek/

Conservative - Not Bush

Here's a good one

article.........

Theodore Roosevelt, that most virile of presidents, insisted that, "To announce that there should be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American people." With that in mind, I say: George W. Bush is no conservative, and his unprincipled abandonment of conservatism under the pressure of events is no statesmanship. The Republic would be well-served by his defeat this November.

snip........

http://www.freezerbox.com/archive/article.asp?id=300

Saint Bill

I wonder if the Pope has the lunchbox yet

http://www.saintclinton.com/

Insensitive & PI

Maybe that last post was a little insensitive and most certainly PI. Maybe I was a little harsh. Maybe I should feel bad.

Nahhhhhh..........

They're never going to read it. It was just to help me get over my nausea after reading that page. As far as being PI well that's something I pride myself on.

I think it was Mark Twain -

"Sacred cows make the best hamburger."

Is there no shame?

Sullying My Surname with Sappiness

My God, I looked at the website bearing my surname (no, for the sake of not causing an all out flame war, I'll just leave the exact name out). It belongs to a distant cousin of mine who I've never met. I'm grateful.

If my eyes had been held open and I was forced to watch ala 'Clockwork Orange', 'Family Circus' cartoons flashed before my eyes it wouldn't have been worse. Yes, I'm a parent. Yes my kid is wonderful. This was way worse. Retelling dumb stories about cute thing your kid says or does (especially when they aren't) couldn't be as interesting as watching mud dry.

Unfortunately they have no place to leave comments on the site. Let's see........

Dear Jack,
What a cute story about your boys. Maybe with a little luck you can start dressing them in pink. Or maybe the little bastard can catch his dick in his zipper, then he can really be the little sissy shit it sounds like you're making him.....

WOW, that feels better.

Bush Service Record

GWB did exactly as most of us suspected.

http://www.airforcetimes.com/story.php?f=1-AIRPAPER-357916.php

So did CBS.

So did Swift Boat Veterns for Truth.

So did Karl Rove.

So do most politicians.

Kerry Losing

Well all the main-stream press seems sure that Kerry has now lost his way and the election with it.

Well unseating an encumbant president is no easy task. Of course Bush I was defeated. I don't think he had near the problems that Bush II has either, but of course he followed 8 years of RR and just maybe this country wanted a real change. One thing for sure in the 1992 election Clinton represented not only a change from the republicans but he was younger and far more charismatic then Bush I.

Now there might be part of the problem in this election. Solid Dems look at GWB as a dolt. Solid Reps can't see it at all. But when you watch Bush talk, don't pay attention to what he says. Realize instead that he has that country-boy-southern-talkin' cowboy style that middle america loves down pat. Kerry on the other hand is dull as cottage cheese. (that may be an insult to a fine dairy product).

There's always that saying that this election was Kerry's to lose. So far I'm afraid that just may be all too true.

IT job loss in America

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/15/silicon_valley_jobs_shrink/

Here's some real food for thought. Those of us in the IT sector of the economy know how real this is.

Does anyone, other than the maniacs trying to re-elect Bush think the job market in this country has improved?

Silly but just a little chilling too.

The IG comes by that name honestly. I am a geek - that is in the modern vanacular of the digital age. Computers are what I've been playing with for the last 26 years - before that it was just plain old electronics - audio and radio mostly.

Now if you know much of anything about the IT business you've seen the big stink this last year over SCO claiming Linux was infringing on their intellectual property (IP). That one as yet to be settled but it's not looking good for SCO. One of the best parts of the story turned out to be Microsoft funding much of this through am investment company. That really wasn't much of a surprise.

Now companies like IBM have made a lot of money over the years on their patents. Now Microsoft has been trying to get in the game.

http://theinquirer.net/?article=18336

But as the acticle points out they're managing to get some really silly patents. What the problem is with the USPO I'm not sure. Somtimes I think you could take a shit and get them to give you a patent (Bill G especially - he's such an innovator). The scary part of course is just what MS will decide to do with all this. Much of it will probably be thrown out down the road but MS has more money than just about anyone else to hire lawyers and just drive others out of business through our so called justice system. Innovation at it's best!

Funny

It seems I've seen just about every internet joke out there sometimes. This one made me laugh

http://www.kidsforfree.com/

And of course it's a joke!

Just a follow up

Well the IG (that would be me) has been too busy workin', relaxin' and just goofin'off to get much posted here ( I can hear the collective sigh of relief from all two of my readers).

Honestly not much is new. I'm growing tired of the political news - has anything worthy been stated in the last couple of weeks. The RNC convention was as big a circus as the DNC. GWB is feeling confident as polls show a boost in his ratings and chances of staying employed for the next four years.

No matter if it was the convention bounce or the smear against Kerry's military record, the Reps are all thrilled (did I say all - not too sure about that - I'm one and I'm anything but thrilled with Bush) as their boy is starting to make headway while in complete denial of his administration and the damage this country is experiencing due to their stupid antics to protect us all in the war on terror. What scares me the most is what 4 more years may bring. We shall have a failed empire, $500,000,000,000 dump into the sand of the middle-east, $5.00 a gallon gas and a supreme court bringing us the Christian rights way of thinking. Did I mention VP Dick!

This isn't the party I joined 30 years ago and yet the alternative is not really any better.

Give me a break!

Protesting the Bush Nomination

Comedian and Air America Radio commentator Al Franken has a suggestion

http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/books/08/25/franken.protest.ap/

article:

NEW YORK (AP) -- Al Franken wants you to get up out of your chairs, open your windows, stick your heads out and yell ... fuggedaboutdit?

Well, yes.

In the spirit of Paddy Chayefsky's classic movie monologue from "Network," the liberal comedian Wednesday urged New Yorkers -- and other Americans -- to simultaneously scream the all-purpose local wisecrack at the moment that President Bush accepts the nomination.

---snip

Wish I could be in New York when it happens. I'll bet a large group take him up on it.