Virtual, but permanent.
General comments.
Two dead in Texas freeway shooting spree | ReutersÂ
Texas polygamist ranch report details child abuse | Reuters
Judging by these two headlines coming out of Texas today, one might guess that it is a very dysfunctional state.Â
This must be why Texans like to say “Don’t mess with Texas”. It seems like it’s a pretty shitty place already.
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Among the many wonderful things that one gets in a dog-friendly city is this portrait of a very beautiful and very hip golden retriever which had taken over this snazzy BMW.
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United States Supreme Court Decision Vacates Temporary Restraining Order in Ohio
In a shocking display of business as usual, the United States Supreme Court vacated an absurd restraining order that the Ohio Republican Party had managed to obtain in order to disenfranchise likely Democratic voters.Â
Should the above link fail to open the beautifully formatted (looks like Latex!) pdf file, download the terse decision from the local copy on my server.
One wonders if the gang of thugs masquerading as a political party will be chastened in the least by this decision. It is quite clear that the party is not willing to compete on any platform based upon ideas, morals, decency or ingenuity. It is clear that the GOP sees this as some sort of war, and it is willing to fight as dirty a fight as possible. After all, if the Republican Party had any claim at all to morality and decency, it would be bringing such lawsuits in California, Texas, Arizona, Florida and New Mexico where it is far more likely to be voter fraud than in Ohio.Â
Mercifully, even the Supreme Court has lost its patience with the Grand Old Party. Or, with the gang of unrepentant reprobates that have seized control of this once useful and progressive party.Â
Sadly, it is highly doubtful that the Republican Party will learn to compete on the merits of its ideas now that it has been utterly defeated. It will continue to resort to cheap tricks, skulduggery, baseless lawsuits and senseless propaganda because thirty years of ideological pruning have left the Republican party devoid of any high-ranking members endowed with intelligence, scruples, charisma or even literacy, if George W Bush is ever to be considered a Republican.Â
Who knows? After its undoing at the hands of a select group of utterly incompetent cronies, the GOP may well become a party of ideas again. We shall have to wait and see how long the great purge will take. Certainly, the Supreme Court dramatically hastened the demise of the neoconservative grip on the Republican Party, and real conservatives would have rejoiced had the destruction of their beloved party not left them feeling so bereft.
And, perhaps by the time the GOP regains power, the Democrats may have managed to build yet another powerhouse economy with a Federal surplus for the GOP to destroy and to squander.Â
In God we must trust. Having faith in Republicans has proven to be a grotesque error.Â
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YouTube – Man Throws Shoes At Bush
In the aftermath of the event itself, automaton Bush dismisses the act as a singular, selfish stab at publicity. He plays it with sincerity, too, that one is inclined to believe that W is utterly incapable of understanding why there might be any resentment from the citizens of a country that was destroyed by Bush’s orders.
All this man did to get attention was throw shoes at a dignitary, and Bush is, perhaps, angry that this simple act detracted from the attention that the Iraq war had garnered Bush. Poor W. He flew out all the way to Iraq under the cloak of secrecy to look cool and diplomatic, and this lowly Iraqi steals his thunder.Â
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It is perhaps in the character of mankind, perhaps even in his genes, to admire things. History was in part written by various men’s desires to admire a thing of beauty, an object of power or a woman of distinguished character. This desire spawned countless pageants and contests that claim to decide what or who possesses the greatest intelligence, beauty, speed, etc.
The greatest of all these contests are, of course, beauty contests, and because men are endowed with this innate desire to admire and to procreate, women are nearly always the subject of such contests. These contests vary from the mundane to the profane, but they are always about women.Â
The attached picture from the Mazayan al-Maaz competition appeared in the Washington Post’s daily pictures section recently. It answers the question that one would not have thought of posing. What do men admire when they cannot admire women? 
Saudi Arabia follows the most stringent codes regarding the appearance of women. These codes require, in fact, that women be nearly invisible, that they have no appearance at all, in effect. Thus, the code physically implements the strict Wahabi proscription against admiring women.Â
Absent women as a subject, to what do Saudi men turn their desire for admiration? Expand the picture and read the caption. There is no dispute. Saudi Arabia is home to the most beautiful goat(s) in the world. You can take that to the bank.
Of course, they have spectacular horses, too, but isn’t a goat competition somewhat underwhelming? Isn’t the Westminster Kennel Club’s competition a bit more compelling in its search for beauty?
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BBC NEWS | Americas | US faces kosher meat shortage
This story probably has nothing to do with Hebrew National, the company that insists that its hot dogs are better than other meat products because Kosher butchers “answer to a higher authority” than the USDA, but Hebrew National (well, ConAgra, the largest food processor on the planet) may suffer in the end because it has done so much to elevate the status of Kosher meats.
And, though it is undoubtedly true that Kosher vendors must answer to a higher authority when they process meat, this BBC story makes it quite obvious that these exceptionally moral meat processors choose to answer to that same Authority in their hiring practices. The Tora, it seems, has no proscriptions against hiring illegal aliens. And, so, they did. Is this the competitive advantage that big meat processors like Agriprocessor have been searching for all along?
The message is quite clear. Capitalism and religion make a lousy combination.
Or an excellent one, until the law catches up with you.
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What more can we say? Politics and science converge on the nanotechnology platform. This means of patterning vertically aligned carbon nanotubes is ingenious, of course, but is it of any use beyond public relations? Certainly, no other scientist has been so bold in ingratiating himself with the political establishment. Without a doubt, this is the greatest public relations coup by any modern scientist. 
Chad Mirkin and company of Northwestern University wooed Fraser Stoddart away from UCLA by making a microportrait of him using the “dip-pen nanolithography” method (see page 2). This stunt pales dramatically when compared with John Hart’s microportraiture of the most popular human being on the planet. (He would be Barack Obama.)
If his stunt proves successfull, will I have contributed to it? One would hope that publicity stunts don’t end up being the greatest value of nanotechnology. That has certainly been the case thus far.
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David Letterman has produced countless timeless pieces of comedy in his illustrious career. This magnificent piece by one of his former dogs is no exception. It is, perhaps, even the greatest gem from the NBC years.
One wonders what happened to the happy years of American television? Although Letterman’s show is still funny and both Craig Ferguson and especially Conan O’Brien exercise sufficient artistic license to create truly funny moments and skits, the comedy landscape on broadcast television has become unbearably dreary and hackneyed. Saturday Night Live is hardly a show anymore. Aside from a smattering of political caricatures, the show consists of essentially nothing. Certainly, long gone are the days when networks cared to support a phenomenal show like Cheers long enough for it to become a hit.
Thank God for youtube.
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CNN’s Citizen Journalism Goes `Awry’ With False Report on Jobs | Bloomberg.com: U.S.
CNN describes iReport as a place for “unedited, unfiltered news” and said it “makes no guarantee about the content or coverage.” The site was started in August 2006 as part of CNN.com and became a standalone Web site in February. As such, CNN’s iReport is probably the dumbest ratings stunt in the history of broadcast news. And, it is surprising to see that CNN proudly boasts about the collective stupidity of its employees in this graphic from the iReport web site.
One really wonders how a “reporter” who is not subjected to fact checking, to proper editorial oversight and strict ethical conduct could be considered a reporter. Anyone with a sense of what journalism means knows that CNN abandoned all ethics and morals years ago when it decided to pursue ratings rather than stories.Â
It comes as an insult, nevertheless, that the network manages to pass off rumor, innuendo and outright prevarication as “news” reported by its “citizen journalists”, who are nothing but anonymous cowards, as the above cited link regarding the Steve Jobs rumor amply demonstrates.
Perhaps CNN management should extend this ploy to other avenues of their lives. They ought to seek auto repair from “citizen mechanics”, legal advice from “the citizen judiciary” and medical advice from “citizen physicians”. Evolution thus implemented may well provide the citizenry with better journalism.
It certainly seems as if they are getting their editorial advice from “citizen editors”. And, while they are getting advice apparently from “citizen lawyers”, I shall endeavor to start a class action suit against them for negatively affecting Apple shareholders, a group to which I belong.
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BBC NEWS | Africa | Goat ‘condoms’ save Kenyan herds
The Catholic Church has spent considerable effort to suppress contraception of any kind in the developing world. Will it accede to population control where goats are concerned? Will Papa Ratzi denounce this move as another sign of modern decadence?
Or will he denounce me?
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