Senator Dodd Has Prostate Cancer

Senator Dodd Has Prostate Cancer, Aide Says - NYTimes.com

This is pretty sad. The guy ran for President, and in the process, if you watched his interviews, the guy seems to be a very decent and good man. A really rare thing in D.C., in my opinion. Luckily it sounds like it was caught early so I bet he's now glad he went ahead and bent over and had that finger shoved all up in there. Only bad thing is, now that he's had the cancer, his doc is going to want to keep his finger in there even longer now, just to make sure. Hope he gets better soon.

Greatest Coaches

Wooden honored as sports’ greatest coach - College basketball- nbcsports.msnbc.com: "18. Tom Landry"

Ok, John Wooden I can accept as the top coach. And Vince Lombardi as number 2, ok. But TOM LANDRY... way down in 18th is just unacceptable.

To have Don Shula at 5, and Landry at 18, is disgusting. Don Shula... come on. Please. Even worse is Phil Jackson at 4th. COME ON! He's not a great coach, he simply had great players. He couldn't coach his way out of a box. These "experts" are full of shit, or too young, or just ignornant. Joe Gibbs right above Tom Landry is a mockery. Tom Landry should easily have been in the top 3 or 4, and him at number 18 shows that these "experts" didn't do their homework.

Obama's Health Care Thingy

Support Slips for Health Plan - WSJ.com

"Thingy" because I don't think it's a plan. It's more like an evolving idea that changes with the tide of non-support. So, it's more like play-dough than a plan.

That, and I don't like the idea of every hospital being run like a VA hospital. I'm a veteran, I was a Navy Corpsman, I've been to a couple of VA clinics/hospitals. They're fine for the most part, but when you want/need and pay for health care... no.

Part of the "thing" with national health care is the doctors don't give a flying fuck about you. I know, see above. I also know because one day back in either late '89 early '90 (20 or 21 years old), I hurt my arm, could barely stand to move it, so my mom (an RN) told me I needed to get it looked at. So, she gave me a ride to the VA hospital in Houston.

I had a couple of Xrays done, and then the doctor came in and he said I just sprained it. He couldn't see any break in the Xrays. My mom and her boyfriend (forgot his name) questioned the doctor, to which he informed us that he went to some really good medical school and whatnot, I don't remember which one, but I do remember thinking that he must know what he's talking about. Well, he was full of shit.

Years later, many refills of Motrin later, I went in to the VA clinic here in Austin and told them I needed to have surgery or something because my elbow was always giving me problems. I would have to warn friends that if we arm wrestled, that they automatically win if they hear a popping noise and to immediately let go. What would happen is if it popped, some serious pain soon came afterward. It would even happen when I would try to manually drive in screws.

So they refer me to the VA hospital in Temple. I can't remember if they took more Xrays or used the old ones, but they immediately noticed that my bone had been broken. It was a radial fracture, meaning a fracture sort of like how you split a log. I told them what had happened, of how I had hurt my arm in the first place (falling with outstretched arm) and they couldn't figure out how the first doctor missed it. It was way too late to do anything about it. So, from that fracture I had developed some spurs within the joint, and that's what was causing the pain.

The solutions weren't very desirable. I could have surgery, but chances were that the scar tissue and redevelopment of the spurs would eventually make the pain even worse, and prolong it. The other option... do nothing, live with it for a while long and over time the spurs would wear down on their own. They recommended doing nothing of course, and because these doctors actually seemed to either care to a degree or were just interested in the mystery of my elbow, even having a CAT scan done to verify what they thought was going on, I decided to tough it out.

Sure enough, within a decade my elbow started to seem, for the most part, fine. I lifted weights for a year a couple of years ago, and it didn't give me much problems. However, manually driving in screws, the act of applying force while twisting, is not even something I'm willing to try, unless it's easy. Manually putting in a new screw into solid wood... nope, not going to do it. I'll use a drill or whatever, but not a regular screwdriver.

So anyway, the thing I see when I hear about national health care is that first doctor, the one who supposedly had a great education, who seemed to act like I was being a pussy, who acted like he had better things to do than be bothered with me, the one who got everything wrong. That fucking dickhead. That's what I think I'll be getting, and eventually everyone will be getting, if it this thing gets passed.

Sure, we have good doctors out there now, but put in a national health care system... why the hell would those types become a doctor now? Unless you have someone truly dedicated to helping the sick regardless of pay... forget it.

Obama is a smart guy. I've met plenty of smart people, but that doesn't mean they're right all the time, and it doesn't mean they can be dead wrong about things. This is all an experiment for Obama... all of it... the bailouts, health care, Sotomayer... all of it. The experiment is akin to throwing a bunch of shit on the wall, and seeing what sticks.

Bing

Microsoft, Yahoo team up to ding Google with Bing

So, MS is of the opinion that Bing is better than Google, and that, interestingly, search can be so much more.

Well, apparently they haven't paid enough attention to what Google offers. I just got through trying Bing. I inserted my home address. I saw the results, and I'm not only unimpressed, but it makes me wonder how the hell can MS think Bing is even in the same league as Google.

Sure, I got some results with Bing, some entries where it tried to produce something related to what I inserted. But with Google, the very first entry, as we all know when we insert an address, is a map. Yes, a map of where that address is located. Brilliant! But guess what, this isn't new. This has been around for at least a few months I think, maybe a year or so? Long enough to where I think, WTF is MS smoking to ever suggest that Bing is better than MS. And yes, search can be so much more, just look at Google!

OS: MS Vista 64-bit is my fave so far(yes I've tried Linux, I used to own macs, MS wins hands down)
CPU: Really liking my i7 920 so far with my ASRock Supercomputer mobo... prior builds were all with AMD CPUs. No clear winner imo.
Browser: FF is my fave (yes, I've tried them, even Opera)
Toolbar: Groowe (get it, now)
Search: Google is my fave
Video Card: ATI, hands down, Nvidia is the suck

So, some things are pretty cut and dry. Not all. But right now Google is definitely better. If Bing is really wanting to be the best, then somebody over at MS needs to inject some reality over there because you're not going to be the best unless you're better than Google. And right now, it's not even close. To think that you're better and that it's just a matter of getting people to try you out... lol. I wish you luck though, if Bing is eventually turned into something that is better than Google, then I'll definitely use it. Good luck with keeping Google locked in time while you do that.

Bachelorette

‘Bachelorette’ makes her final choice- msnbc.com

So I see this on Google News, and I search for images of this girl, Jillian Harris (get the Groowe toolbar, it's a must have on Firefox). Then I ask, why didn't they get a good-looking girl for the show?

She's not ugly I guess, though there's one picture i saw with her in some white dress where she looks less than attractive. But, on TV, why not have some hot chick as the bachelorette? Maybe I would have watched the show if I saw some hot chick with big boobs and tight ass. In fact, if this Jillian girl had big boobs and/or a nice ass, I might have paid some attention. Big boobs can fix a face pretty quickly, and just don't look at the ass too much so you'll be alright.

Plus, maybe the guys they had on there were a little desperate anyway. Whatever. I saw one season off and on where the girl picked the fireman, and they got married and probably still are. That girl I remember being pretty. This one, I won't remember. Though I'm picturing a big nose, small boobs and ugly butt right now.

Anyway, she apparently picked some guy, I'm sure he'll cool down a lot after the cameras aren't rolling anymore. I did hear one time on the radio that this girl had been kissing on all the guys, so maybe he'll see that at some point and get disgusted at the very sight of her, not that it's hard to do already. Well, she's not THAT bad, after all she isn't overweight or anything like that, so that's a plus. Hell, that puts her over most women in America... bunch of hogs these days.

Speaking of which, I think I'm all for women trying hard to look like some version of Barbie. I don't think anorexia or other eating disorders are the solution, especially since eating like a hog is an eating disorder of some sort too. But exercise, and eating portions for only 1 human woman is probably a good start. And exercise needs to be more than just running, because that seems to only help the legs.

And ya know, small breasts aren't bad, but if you don't have a pretty face or some other nice womanly feature, then they just accentuate the bad. Most hot women with small breasts have a really nice butt, face, or maybe overall figure. And I'd much rather have a hot woman with small breasts than a hot woman with fake ones. At least the fake ones I experienced were like caressing fully inflated balloons. For me, it's hard to even want to do that to something so unnatural. I like the soft boobs thank you very much.

Of course I suppose a great personality can overcome a lot too. I haven't watched the show so I don't know anything about her personality, other than from her kissing on all the guys... not good. Then again, if she's really good/enthusiastic in the sack... maybe that's a cure-all. :)

The Arrest of the Old Black Professor

I never heard of this guy before, Gates, but there seems to be some controversy about his arrest. Some say it was race related... I don't think so. The problem isn't race related at all, it's the cop mentality, abusing power, and it doesn't matter what race, creed, religion you or the cop are, the cop is going to abuse or at the very least, use all the power he can wield.

If you go to law school, you will learn that there are a lot of laws out there which are the result of cops abusing power. Give the guy a gun and it's no wonder so many cops get divorced and are generally dickheads. Not all cops are bad, of course, I know that, hope that, there are at least a few who aren't dicks. I had a step-dad who was a cop, I look back now and I can see that he was a dick. I had a grandpa that was a cop, he was pretty hard core that I remember, so I think he was probably just one of those really by-the-book guys, "Just the facts mam" instead of one of the power-tripping guys.

Anyway, the cop that arrested the black professor, was a power-tripping dickhead, so common among cops that few realize it themselves. So common that whole police organizations fail to see it. They have the goggles on that makes them see that if they can get away with it legally, as the law exists right now, then it's ok, even proper.

They get discretion. This can be a good thing, and it can be a bad thing. In the immediate case, the discretion used was piss poor. The cop got some old black professor mad, and the professor started mouthing off about race or whatnot. Who cares. At the point the cop determined that it was the guy's residence, he should have said, "Thank you" and left. End of story.

I don't care if the old guy followed him off screaming like a little girl or whatever, the cop should have left. Instead, he arrests the old guy under a bullshit charge after the officer helped facilitate the behavior. The call was about a possible break-in, not disorderly conduct. Once the identity was resolved and there was a realization that the house was not broken in to... I mean, just look at the guy, how many old farts are active in house break-ins anyway?... then the cop should have excused himself, apologized for any inconvenience, and got the fuck out of there.

But no, he's just one of the all too common power-tripping cops that wanted to teach this old guy a lesson. It wasn't about the old guy's race, or anything... it was about this cop teaching a lesson on his own about what he can do to even innocent civilians. It may have been technically legal to arrest the guy, but the total lack of proper discretion to see the cause and effect and the injustice of doing makes the arrest morally reprehensible. But guess what, this happens every day.

So I hope this cop gets everything that's coming, and then some. Maybe if more cops are held accountable for this type of abuse, then maybe we can hope for fewer of these types of incidents.

It's absolutely no excuse that cops have to deal with all sorts of people, that they never know what or who they're dealing with. If that's the problem, then the cops who, like this one, treat upstanding citizens as if they were career criminals, need to get their asses fired. Period. That's right, get the dickheads out of the uniform. Nothing is much worse than a dickhead cop abusing people on a daily basis and getting away with it.

Frenemy, webisode among new words in Webster's - USATODAY.com

Frenemy, webisode among new words in Webster's

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — Do you use a sock puppet to secretly keep track of your frenemies?

Plan to spend your staycation watching vlogs and webisodes? Or perhaps you plan to signal a flash mob for a quick bite of shawarma.

If you're not entirely certain what all that means, turn to the latest edition of the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, which has added about 100 new words that largely reflect changing trends in American society.

John Morse, president and publisher of the Springfield-based dictionary publisher, said many of this year's new words are tied to changes in technology, increasing environmental awareness and aging baby boomers' concerns about their health and have become part of the general lexicon.

"These are not new words in the language, by any means," Morse said. "(But) when words like 'neuroprotective' and 'cardioprotective' show up in the Collegiate, it's because we've made the judgment that these are not just words used by specialists. ... These really are words now likely to show up in The New York Times, in The Wall Street Journal."

There are words such as locavore (one who eats foods grown locally), frenemy (someone who acts like a friend but is really an enemy), waterboarding (an interrogation technique use to induce the sensation of drowning), vlogs (a blog that contains video material) and webisode (a TV show that can be viewed at a website).

There's also flash mob (a group of people summoned electronically to a designated spot at a specified time to perform an indicated action before dispersing) and green-collar (involving actions for protecting the natural environment).

Some words that just now made the cut have been around for generations. The term "sock puppet" — a false online identity used for deceptive purposes — was tracked to 1959 but has taken on new popular use with people using fake IDs on social networking sites.

Many words have cross-cultural roots, including shawarma (a sandwich especially of sliced lamb or chicken, vegetables, and often tahini wrapped in pita bread) and reggaeton (music that combines rap and Caribbean rhythms).

Once words like these become so common that they regularly pop up in conversations and published articles, Morse said they pass muster for being included in the dictionary.

Some words, such as "staycation," have become so popular the dictionary could not ignore them, Morse said. Staycation refers to staying home for vacation and has gained popularity as the economy worsens.

But Morse said some words face years in limbo as wordsmiths wait to see if they are just fads.

Dave Wilton, author of Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends, said it's difficult to draw conclusions about trends in society with just a handful of new words.

"It's also an editorial decision and reflects what the (dictionary) editors deemed important that year," Wilton said. "Most of these words have been around for a while but for some reason they grabbed the attention of editors this time."

Researchers often keep track of words over many years. One to watch: prepone.

The word is commonly used in India among English-speaking Indians and refers to the act of arranging for an event to take place earlier than originally planned — the opposite of postpone.

"Prepone didn't make it this time," Morse said. "But we know about it."

----------------

Ok... I copied that article from the USA Today site, so it's not like I was looking for an AP article.

I'm not sure if maybe I'm just dreaming, or maybe just assumed, but didn't dictionaries have standards beyond just what's been heard? Because, I hear some pretty fucked up grammar being used, and I don't see books being changed to accomodate that. Words like "Frenemy" or "staycation" are just stupid/funny words that don't even enter the realm of jargon, and definitely do not deserve to be included in any real dictionary.

I hate to think that some person new to the language would use either of those words, because most people would be wondering what the fuck they're talking about. Frenemy... a person who act like a friend but is really an enemy... is an enemy, not a frenemy. So if someone is stupid but acts smart, let's call them Stuart. Put that in Webster's because it has now been used. Yes, Stuart, someone who is actually stupid but acts like they're smart. Oh, if your name happens to be Stuart, too bad.

I've never heard of most of these new words they're advocating as, impliedly, having some sort of common usage. If they're just asking people, "Hey, do you know what "webisode" means" then of course people can put 2 and 2 together and come up with the meaning. But that's no test on what's being commonly used.

So, the people at Webster's are just brazy. Yeah, brazy... batshit crazy... new word, should be coming out in their dictionary any day now.

Fatso epidemic

Two-thirds of American adults are too fat: study

I definitely believe it. I've been on a couple of date sites and most of the women on there are fat. You can try to filter them out by picking women with an "average" body type. The problem with that is, most of these fat women think they're average body type and so most of the average body types that filters through are still a bunch of fat women. At least you know right off the bat about their lack of honesty.

Yeah, lots of fat people, so that now there's so many that they think they're just average. So, there's an obvious problem. Take that along with what was on the news not that long ago... that there is a fat virus. A virus people get that instead of making you feel like crap for a couple of weeks, makes people fat for the rest of their now shorter lives. So, when you see this 2/3 of us are fat, it's possible that we're seeing evidence of a viral epidemic.

Fortunately, the virus has either not taken hold on me, or even with the virus I have enough self control that I don't turn into a fatso. It's a pretty fast-spreading virus too, I mean, when I was young, fat people were pretty rare, so it was a little freakish. Take Fat Albert for instance, he was the fat guy among a gang of misfits/freaks.

So, to me, a fatso virus would explain this epidemic of so many fat people so suddenly. Maybe we can develop a fatso vaccine soon, so that by the time I'm 60 maybe I can find a woman who likes me that isn't fat.

Why Sotomayor Isn't Worthy to Sit on the Supreme Court

The Opinion

There's been some great judges to sit on the Supreme Court. And before they were part of the Court, they were already "in the zone" so to speak. Meaning, they weren't just thinking about how a case is resolved under current law, but how it "should" be resolved. I'm not talking about "judicial activism" which implies a political or personal interference.

Part of the key to the great ones, or even just ones who are simply qualified, is an awareness. You can't tackle a problem if you aren't aware of it. You can't just look at both sides of an argument and assume that's all with which you can rely. Even worse, though, is choosing to be narrowminded.

Another part is being able to see the solution... which can be pretty difficult and may take some time after becoming aware of the problem. I think of one of the greats, Learned Hand. That's his name, and it fits because he's a fresh razor in a tool shed. A great that never got to sit on the Supreme Court, unfortunately.

Anyway, he had a case before him which basically required figuring out who was liable in a case of negligence. So, he came up with a formula for it. That formula wasn't already in the law books, or anything else. He saw the need and came up with the answer. That formula was was like "OMG!" in the legal community, a pretty big deal. Anyway, the guy is like the epitome of this sort of situation, many many important opinions from him, he was a source of enlightenment to many.

Another was a guy named Cordozo. He eventually got the Supreme Court, but wasn't there very long because he died. But like Learned Hand, he recognized problems and found solutions. As part of the Supreme Court... it's expected.

Now, let's look at what Sontomayor has to offer. In this very recently released opinion (today!), linked above, we have a case where a city decided not to promote any firemen to Lt. or Cpt. because only whites and two hispanics would have been eligible. The City thought the test showed a "disparate impact" and that they would be liable if they certified the scores. So, because nothing but white people and 2 hispanics would have been chosen, they decided to not promote anyone. Oh yeah, that's called intentional discrimination. Yeah, they decided to intentionally discriminate to avoid potential disparate impact liability.

So, the city got sued by the 17 whites and 1 hispanic, all of whom passed and were denied promotion because of the discrimination. The District Court pretty much said stfu and ruled in favor of the City after cross motions for summary judgment. Even more shocking, the appellate court on which Sotomayor is a part of, heard the case and gave a very short, one paragraph ruling, adopting the District Courts reasoning... which was: “motivation to avoid making promotions based on a test with a racially disparate impact . . . does not, as a matter of law, constitute discriminatory intent.” WTF?! That's taking a step back. How in hell was this acceptable to the appellate judges? I can just imagine as the SC was looking at what cases to grant cert, they must have seen this and were just dumbfounded on the basis alone, without even getting to whether they agree with its ultimate result.

So, here was a case where someone like Learned Hand or Cordozo, would have taken the reigns and issued a reasonable and logical decision by taking what they know in law, and applying it to the case at hand. But no. She stayed silent. I wonder why? (sarcasm)

I'll tell you why. Because Title 7 let's people who are otherwise unqualified, get qualified. The supposed intention wasn't that, it was to give all people an equal chance based on the job, and not on race. Yet, the opposite is happening, has been happening, and won't stop until the law is either scrapped or re-written.

Don't we want the best and brightest? If anything, failing the test or not scoring high enough for promotion could have been caused by countless things. But it should have had the effect of, to a person really wanting to get promoted, motivating an individual to try harder, or be better prepared next time. That has nothing to with race either, it's a human thing.

The outcome of the case is that from now on, if you're going to discriminate to avoid disparate impact liability, you had better have a pretty freekin good basis (strong basis) to think you'd be liable. In this particular case, the city had a very weak basis, so they finally lost.

But anyway, Sotomayer dropped the ball on this case completely. She was part of the appellate court that decided to side with the lower court. I won't buy some excuse like, too many cases or whatever, the SC goes through tons of cases just to decide which ones they'll hear. And then they hear them and throw out opinions. So, if she hasn't learned the job by now, then let's get on with seeing the next nominee.

The top news headlines on current events from Yahoo! News - Yahoo! News

Lots of photos lately from Iran, many with people holding signs asking where their vote went. But, something's missing though... hmm... oh yeah, a burning plastic US flag. Where's the burning flag!?!?!?

No picture or news story from that hellhole in the last 30 years has been complete without showing a burning US Flag. This is an outrage! What do they think they can just stop burning flags for the cameras when it suits them? That's just insane. If it wasn't for the scribble, I would think the photo was as fake as those man-walking-on-the-moon photos. And what's with the surgical masks, has Michael Jackson been influencing them?

Iran is so backwards. They're revolution was to go back to living like they did 1300 years ago. Progress? Maybe they were so against the whole idea of evolving, they simply decided to devolve. Of course, the truth of the matter is that they continue to evolve and continue to be exposed to and like progress, but they're ashamed of it, or something, and thus have to hide it. So, your wife goes shopping covered in blankets or whatever, comes home, turns on the TV with satellite service to watch some movies, takes off her blankets and wears her trendy stuff... that sort of thing. So in essence, their revolution is just a facade, or at least turned into a facade. Hell, the revolution iteself was a facade, they got rid of one monarch and simply replaced him with an islamic dictator. Very revolutionary... bleh. More like a coup.

Anyway, so now their people want reforms because their last president, who took hostages back in the 70s, turns out to be a supreme idiot. They don't want 4 more years of Bush, err, I mean Amendignajadiwjiahlkwlalalalala, but guess what... the Iranian dictator wants four more years of Amendignajadiwjiahlkwlalalalala. So, who wins, the people, or the dictator? In this case, I'm going to go ahead and predict... the dictator.

Why? Because the dictator isn't being challenged. At this point, they just want the dictator to wake up, to get rid of the bad, to have a fair election to elect the president of their choosing.

Problem is... this is the guy who either said to cause Amendignajadiwjiahlkwlalalalala to win, or knew about it and approved in some way. Why else would the crackdowns be tolerated by the dictator?

If he was innocent of the fraud, then he would meet the people's requests to assure them the election was fair, and not tolerate the deaths and violence that has been inflicted upon the protestors. But, what if he can't... as in, what if he in actuality lack the power to stop the mess, because the power lies elsewhere. Either that, or he's part of the problem and that's why things have been going downhill. I think the latter.

More importantly, my 11-month old puppy doesn't seem to be feeling well. He's not eating like he should, and he looks weak. My neighbor has tried to poison him, thrown glass against my house and in part of my yard to harm him, so I'm just hoping she didn't give him something else. I'm keeping him indoors now, have had a couple of quotes on putting up an 8-foot fence on that side of the yard, and will get a security camera after that. But, right now I'm not sure if he's sick or maybe just tired because of the heat we're having.

Yes, I've called the cops on the batshit crazy neighbor, but they can't do anything until someone sees her do something. Yes, I know it's her because she's the only one that doesn't like my dog... she doesn't appear to like dogs in general and has done a few childish things even before I moved there. She's part of the reason why the people before me left after 1 year there. Anyway, I'm going to try and catch her on video, maybe I can get her thrown in jail.

Yes, my dog is much more important than fucking iran.

Pakistan kills scores of Taliban in new combat zones - Yahoo! News

Pakistan kills scores of Taliban in new combat zones - Yahoo! News

Pakistan kills scores of Taliban in new combat zones

Reuters – Policemen search through the wreckage at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Peshawar, the morning after a …

By Adil Khan Adil Khan – 2 hrs 19 mins ago

BANNU, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistan unleashed helicopter gunships and artillery to kill scores of Taliban fighters, officials said on Thursday, after opening a second front against militants near their stronghold in the Waziristan tribal region.

Already in the final stages of an operation to clear Islamist fighters from the Swat valley, far to the northwest and closer to Islamabad, the military went on the offensive on Tuesday in Bannu district after up to 800 militants infiltrated from Waziristan.

U.S. officials, worried that the Taliban could drive nuclear-armed Pakistan into chaos, have welcomed the Swat offensive and there has been talk that Waziristan, a hub of Taliban and al Qaeda activity, would be the army's next target.

Standing at the gateway to Waziristan, Bannu is 150 km (90 miles) southwest of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), where a suicide truck bomb attack on a luxury hotel killed at least nine people on Tuesday.

A military statement said on Thursday that during the last 24 hours 66 militants had been killed in fighting mostly in Bannu and South Waziristan, but also Swat.

In Bannu alone, more than 130 militants have been killed since the army swung into action two days ago, according to military officers and a senior civilian official in the area. Independent casualty estimates were unavailable.

"The operation is going on very well. Helicopter gunships, artillery, everything is being used," Kamran Zeb, the top administrator in Bannu, told Reuters.

In South Waziristan, the stronghold of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, around 400 militants attacked two forts in Jandola and Siplatoi. They killed three soldiers but lost 22 of their own men, the military statement said.

Adding to catalog of violence, gunmen wounded a provincial minister in the Darra Adam Khel tribal region just outside Peshawar. Three people were killed in the attack, but Mian Nisar Gul, NWFP minister for jails, was in a stable condition, according to a fellow minister who spoke with him in hospital.

AID CRUNCH

Pakistan's decision to opt for military action in Swat has been helped by a shift in public opinion. That support might ebb if the welfare of some 2.5 million people displaced by the conflict in the northwest is mishandled.

Nine aid agencies said on Thursday in London they would be forced to stop or cut back supplies of aid unless a funding crisis was resolved.

The United Nations has appealed for $543 million, but has received only $138 million so far.

The United Nations is heavily involved in relief efforts, and five U.N. workers, including two foreigners, were among those killed in the suicide attack on Peshawar's Pearl Continental hotel.

HEAVY BOMBING

In the tribal region of Orakzai, security forces also used artillery and warplanes to obliterate a militant compound, killing at least five people, but probably more, according to the the region's mayor.

"It's been heavy bombing and there must be many more casualties, both militants and civilians. We're trying to collect the numbers," mayor Gul Khitab said.

A pro-Taliban cleric, Maulvi Jameel, said several militants' positions and hideouts had been struck during the raid. He didn't have information about casualties.

Immediately to the southwest of Peshawar, militants had until a year ago little presence in Orakzai, one of the more developed tribal regions.

There have been clashes scattered across Swat this week, but the largest population centers and key roads have been cleared of Taliban, and the army has smashed the militants main bases and training camps in the mountains.

The military says more than 1,300 militants and 105 soldiers have been killed in Swat.

Some Taliban have fled through the passes to the Kalam valley in the north, and Upper Dir district, where the army has backed a tribal militia, or lashkar, that has turned on the insurgents.

Separatists in the southwest province of Baluchistan delivered a bloody reminder that the Taliban aren't Pakistan's only worry, claiming responsibility for a bomb blast on a train that killed one person and wounded 35 on Thursday.

(Additional reporting by Hasan Mehmood, Alamgir Bitani, and Zeeshan Haider; writing by Simon Cameron-Moore; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

---
First off, round of applause for Jeremy Laurence for great editing. AP totally sucks, except on rare occasions, with their articles, so it's nice to know that Reuters at least cares enough to have an editor and to present stories with respectable English and grammar.

2nd... change is happening in Pakistan. Pak has grown a great big pair of balls and seems to be really hammering the Taliban. I was hoping they'd finally grow a pair, wasn't sure if they would, but they did. So here we go, the fight is really on now in Pak and the U.S. is eager to kill on the other side of the border within Afghanrugistan.

So, after... 2.. take away the 1... divide by... add... oh.. fucking way too long, there is actually a real effort now to get rid of the terrorists who started it all and seem to exist only to cause strife.

Well, I hope I'm not talking too soon. After all, Pak seems to like to call truces. Pak may very well fight the terrorists back to the border area, and then stop. That of course will give the terrorists time and experience to try something better next time.

Anyway, right now Pak looks like they'll finish the job, so to speak. If they want peace in their country, they'd better make sure the Taliban no longer has a safe haven within their border... else, all this will just either be repeated, or Pak will simply be defeated at a later date. But until either...

Go Pak Go!!!

Too Many Chiefs?

U.S. Commander in Afghanistan Is Given More Leeway - NYTimes.com

The new commander over Afghan rugs has a hand-picked team of team, friends of his apparently. That's cool. No problems there.

On the civilian front, however, you have an ambassador, with 3 assistant ambassadors who have been ambassadors in various other countries. That likely means there's going to be a lot of disagreements, to the point that I'd really be surprised if at least one of them didn't leave within a year. If the Afghan rug ambassador, the chief of the chiefs, is a good manager though, then that's a different story... in that he's a manager and the others are doing the work. So... yeah, whatever. We'll see how long it lasts.

But ya never know, the Manhattan Project was a collaboration of "chiefs" so to speak, and even though there was chaos and fighting between them, it apparently was controlled enough to where they worked out the most destructive weapon ever. So, yeah, maybe a similar collaboration can work in the reverse too... if controlled properly.

Racist Sotomayor

Excite News - White House: Sotomayor says she chose word poorly: "By BEN FELLER

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House says Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor acknowledges she made a poor word choice in a 2001 speech in which she said that a Latina judge would often reach a better conclusion than a white male judge who hasn't lived the same life."

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Yes, racists generally use poor word choices. Not only is she racist, she's genderist. Yes, genderist, wonder if that's even a word yet. Or maybe she's one of them Femi-nazis.

But, poor word choices all throughout that one little sentence actually. In fact, it's just a poor statement. Even the idea it tries to convey is a poor one. I haven't hear anything positive about her yet, is she even considered an accomplished judge? The answer is... I've been busy but I'll find out.

Busy with what... a batshit crazy neighbor who wants to get rid of my dog.

Excite News - Cheney defends Bush's national security policies

Excite News - Cheney defends Bush's national security policies

By PAMELA HESS

(AP) Former Vice President Dick Cheney speaks at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington,... Full Image

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Thursday defended the interrogation methods used against suspected terrorists and said the Bush administration obtained specific information critical to combatting would-be attackers.

In a speech challenging President Barack Obama's policies, Cheney said the national security decisions made by former President George W. Bush kept America safe and were rooted in a determination to ensure the Sept. 11 attacks didn't become "a prelude to something worse."

Responding to critics of the interrogation tactics, Cheney said the United States did obtain useful information.

"It is a fact that only detainees of the highest intelligence value were ever subjected to enhanced interrogation. You've heard endlessly about waterboarding. It happened to three terrorists," Cheney told an audience at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

The former vice president bristled over the complaints about interrogation from lawmakers, pointing out that leading members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., were briefed on the programs and methods.

"Yet for all these exacting efforts to do a hard and necessary job and to do it right, we hear from some quarters nothing but feigned outrage based on a false narrative," Cheney said. "In my long experience in Washington, few matters have inspired so much contrived indignation and phony moralizing as the interrogation methods applied to a few captured terrorists."

Pelosi has said the CIA misled her in 2002 about whether waterboarding, which simulates drowning, had been used.

Cheney delayed the start of his address until after Obama's speech defending his plan to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for suspected terrorists and transfer some detainees to U.S. facilities.

Cheney criticized that move as one made with "little deliberation and no plan."

In the fight against terrorism, Cheney said, there is no middle ground. "Half measures keep you half exposed," he said.

Cheney said the Bush policies were intended to prevent attacks similar in scale to the hijacking of the Sept. 11, 2001, that killed more than 3,000 people.

"To the very end of our administration, we kept al-Qaida terrorists busy with other problems. We focused on getting their secrets, instead of sharing ours with them. And on our watch, they never hit this country again," Cheney said.

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Congrats to Pamela Hess and/or her editor for not screwing up anything in the story. I actually doubt the AP has editors, so hats off to Pamela! Well written, well done. Maybe with this economic downturn, AP can afford good people who are now willing to work for AP wages.

But about the story: Shortly after giving his speech, Cheney went home, got a shotgun and shot his neighbor in the face. He then had a heart attack but was revived in what Joe Biden calls, "Cheney's medical department under his house that everyone knows about." When asked why he shot his neighbor, Cheney replied that shooting people in the face has kept this country safe, and that not one terrorist has happened in the US since he started shooting friends in the face.

In unrelated news, Treasury Secretary Geitner has approved 15 billion in stimulus money to shotgun manufacturers.

A Game of Thrones

George R. R. Martin's Official Website

A Game of Thrones is the first book in a series by George R. R. Martin. I loaned my copy to my dad for him to read, months ago. I asked him about it recently and even chided him ever so slightly, and he said the book was too "hard" for him.

Ok, well, my dad got a BS in biology and his MS in Environmental Engineering. So, he's not dumb... but geez... too hard? No, it's not.

I told him from the get-go that he needed to get past the first 100 pages, because that's where you are introduced into the world in which things take place. The genre is epic fantasy, though it seems more like a medieval legend than anything else. It's not fireballs from wizards or anything Harry Potterish... it's much more adult than that, much harsher than that.

A character you like, can and will die. Quite a few characters come on the scene and eventually die. Good characters that you like and would want to live. Dead.

But that's the point really. It's an epic fantasy and thus far, it's the best I've seen out there. Though, I heard from a friend that there may be another even better author in some respects, some guy by the name of Bakker I think. I'll read him soon enough.

But back to my dad. I told him to get through the first 100 pages, even I found it somewhat difficult at first but that's only because you are thrown into a new world, and you learn about it as you go. There's nothing in the book, like a forward or whatnot, to give you background or tell you what's up. You learn as you go, that's part of the fun. So you just have to be patient for the first 100 pages and you'll be well rewarded from that point forward.

Anyway, I think he read 11 pages. He's used to silly Clive Cussler novels, ugh, so yeah, it was definitely a different read than that shallow crap. Clive Cussler is the type of book I'd try to get some juvenille who isn't used to reading books as something to start on. I mean, that crap is barely one step above Dick and Jane (and Spot!). Even funnier is that a movie was made from one of his novels, Sahara.

Did you see that movie? Not likely, it was a flop of course. The dumbshit actually advocated to his readers that they boycott the film. Yep. Apparently the movie didn't follow the book closely enough. Umm... Mr. Cussler... most movies adopted from books are no different. That's why people leave theaters and say, "I thought the book was much better," erm... umm... you dumbass. So of course he got sued and he sued them for not following the book closely enough. In the end, guess who paid. Yep.

Anyway, all you out there within the sound of my... blog, err, whatever... get through the first 100 pages before giving up! Don't be like my dad and only read the bible, religious books, and Cussler-like crap. (Bible and religious stuff is, of course, ok... unless it's that crap that says the world is going to end in 1984... no, 1990... no, 2000... etc.)

The series is called A Song of Ice and Fire. The first book, A Game of Thrones, will soon be an HBO movie or something like that. Read it. That is all.

Grammar Nazi

Supreme Court denies Demjanjuk's deportation plea: By THOMAS J. SHEERAN "'The U.S. government will continue to work in cooperation with the Government of Germany to affect the removal of Mr. Demjanjuk to Germany,' spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said in an e-mail."
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I've been trying my best to avoid reading stories written by the AP because they all have stupid shit like the above. Journalists should know the difference between the words "affect" and "effect" and should be able to recognize when someone is saying one instead of the other. They should be an asset to the language instead of a liability. I'm so sick of easy-to-correct mistakes that make it in popular print. It's pretty sad that we Americans produce such shit.

Pakistupid

Pakistan pounds Taliban; fighters pour into Swat: "In recent days, however, there have been signs the mood toward the Taliban is changing. Many politicians, commentators and religious leaders now say the movement s true nature was exposed by its refusal to go along with the peace deal despite the government s best efforts."

Ok... so back in 2001 when the Taliban was helping Osama bin Laden, that wasn't a clue? How about before then, when the Taliban took over the Afgahn government to impose its own rule? No clue? Hmm... ok, how about when they refused to lay down their arms, even when they weren't asking for the latest demands?

A solution for Pak:
Step 1 - Get your heads out of the sand, stop being ignorant;
Step 2 - Grow a pair if Step 1 frightens you, else you're dead;
Step 3 - Deal with the problem most likely to kill you within the next few months, instead of India.
Step 4 - Stop thinking you can resolve the Taliban's wanting to rule over you by doing what they want you to do, (Duhh... yet it has happened. Ugh.) and, instead, kill them until they give up or are totally incapacitated.
Step 5 - After defeating the Taliban, make sure this type of thing is never allowed or tolerated again.

Come on Pak, time to either do something right or die.

Gitmo Detention Center Staying Alive

It's being reported that in the latest War bill, there is no money being allocated for the closure of the Gitmo (Guantanamo Bay) Detention Center for the Civilly-Challenged (Terrorists). To be honest... THANK GOD. Who the hell wants to house them? If Gitmo closes, all that means is that ANOTHER one will have to be built. Even if we found another country that would house them, we'd have to give them aid or pay for it one way or another. I'm hoping Obama follows the reasoning and starts to see Gitmo less as a symbol and more as a practicality. NIMBY!

Pakistan is DOOMED

From the AP: "Abbas said the troops faced an estimated 450-500 militants in Buner and forecast Wednesday that the operation to drive them out would take about a week.

He has dismissed fears that the capital Islamabad, separated from Buner by the Indus River and the Margalla Hills, was under any threat of a militant takeover as alarmist, expressing a confidence in Pakistan's huge army that many Western observers do not share."
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Ok, if it's estimated that it will take a week to drive out 500 militants... your army sucks. As if that hasn't already been observed by the entire world when Pak made truces and whatnot with the Taliban. Whatever "culture" or mechanism that has allowed the continued propegation of the Taliban in Pak is spelling the doom of Pak as we know it today. For tomorrow, barring international intervention, Pak will be a nation of terrorists armed with nuclear missiles.

So, here's the deal. Pak's current government is weak and afraid to take a strong stand against the Taliban. Pak's current military is... weak and afraid to take a strong stand against the Taliban. Pak's current civilian population is... weak and afraid to take a strong stand against the Taliban, many even support the Taliban, apparently. Thus, no matter what, things are going to change in Pak.

If things are left to go as they have, then the Pak government will collapse and the Taliban will forcefully take over. If the international community intervenes, all sorts of change can and will happen. If the Pak governement, army, and/or people grow a pair of nuts and decide to determine their own future, then that would obviously be best and that would definitely be a change.

But what are the odds that the Pak government, army, or people will decide to determine their own future, or fate? Not good. The gene pool in Pak is comprised of muslim people who decided to flee India. So, they lack sack to begin with. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, genes mutate, etc., but for the most part, as a whole, and even in looking at how they got into this current situation, does not bode well for Pak as we knew it.

When the Taliban fled into Pakistan, they probably had no idea what a soft cushion they landed on. It didn't take the Taliban long before they intimidated and controlled the people in the region. Even now, today, there is only 500 Taliban causing so much grief for the Pak army. So soft is Pak, that the Taliban can actually continue "operations" in Afghanistan while taking over Pak.

So, there you have it. It doesn't take a genius to see the eventual demise of Pak. But are others willing to let it come to fruition?

India... another nuclear nation with a long history of disputes with Pak. How will India react? Will India be proactive? That's doubtful. If anything, India is so passive that they won't even take part in an international effort to quash terrorists on their own border. You never know, but even if they do help or try to be proactive, their army is probably similar to Pak's, so they may not be very effective no matter how you cut it.

That means, of course, the UN because nuclear-armed terrorists are bad for everyone. The Pak government won't destroy their weapons in case they somehow live through this, and probably can't destroy them fast enough anyway, unless they launched them... but I refer back to the assertion of "no nuts." (Truman, biggest nuts ever.) That's another thing though, a nuclear armed nation dying to a bunch of hillbillies with AK-47s. That's just pathetic.

So, Pak deserves to get whatever change is coming to them... and it is definitely coming. They simply cannot exist as they have, because their current structure has already failed. Democracy takes nuts, and Pak has none... so they were doomed before the Taliban showed up.

RMA

What does RMA mean? It means very little to ANTonline. RMA generally means a store replacing a defective part that you bought through them. But to ANTonline, it means you're screwed.

Atlanta Network Technologies, they give online shopping a bad name. An item being sold in Amazon.com was sold through ANTonline, and I'll never make that mistake again. The item arrived defective, it was a power supply unit that did not provide near the power it's supposed to in order to run a computer. I tried to RMA it, but to say that ANTonline's RMA is to not accept returns, is not only close to the truth, in effect it is the truth. For, how can you even test an item without opening the box? It's impossible. Yet, that's what they expect in order to RMA.

Yes, they are crooks, any reasonable person can figure this out if they visit antonlinesucks.com to see the pattern. Unfortunately for me, I didn't come across this until after I experienced a problem with them.

Buyer Beware! Beware! Did you hear me? BEWARE!

Beware... as in... you're stupid, even for a moron, if you buy from them after reading this. If you read this after the fact, my sincere condolences. I tried.

The only slightly silver lining is the manufacturer of the product I bought, Corsair, seems to be willing to RMA it. I've already contacted the Texas AG, Georgia's consumer protection office (part of their Governor's Office), and Amazon.

Amazon wasn't any help. I was hoping since they now have the same thing in stock, that they would RMA it instead. Nope. They didn't even answer my email, just put me on their pathetic A to Z service thing which did absolutely nothing but reject it record time. They also said they would send me an email to explain it I guess, but that never happened.

So, hopefully Corsair will end this nightmare and I'll just be out some extra money for shipping.

Again, DO NOT BUY FROM ANTONLINE! Got it? Ok.