Bang, Bang Crazy - my own story

I fucking hate people. Don't get me wrong, individually I love some of you. I'm awfully fond of a larger number of you. I care deeply for a large number of you. And a great hunk of you, well, you're all right (wink).

Then there's the rest of humanity. Mostly ignorant, panicky, unpredictable, anti-vaxxer and generally clogging up the malls at Christmas Time. You know what I'm saying?

And it's near Fourth of July. I love fireworks… when done by professionals. If you have anything more than a bottle rocket or lady-fingers (do kids still call them that?) you piss me off. When I hear a mortar going off in my neighborhood I start entertaining fantasies of slipping up on these people in the dark and trying to remember the exact angles for an under the ribs thrust, where to target the kidneys, and how to quickly slit a throat. Tell me you haven't entertained those thoughts as well. Tell me you haven't had the thought, "I bet they blow their fingers off, or start a fire." Today we had a discussion at the day thing where people were all too happy to say they love it, that sound of launching mortars. That "thumpt" sound. How one guy watched Americans in Mexico launching rockets on the beach, landing them on people's tents who were camping on the beach, melting the fabric. Fun times. Fun times.

So what I'm saying is, I was a little primed.

After work I went to the Oakwood Village Sam's Club to pick up things for this weekend. Oakwood is an interesting mixture of people. There are some richer, whiter suburbs nearby, but it's right around the eastern Cleveland industrial suburbs and lower-income housing, and has a large percentage of African-American neighborhoods (Cleveland is still pretty segregated, the lingering effects of intentional segregation actions of realtors and banks from the 60s to the 80s). The crowd at the store is about a 50/50 mix of white and minority (mostly African-American, but a good mix of Asian and Hispanic, probably 10% or so). Most of the workers are African-American (70-80%). It's someplace that I am very conscious of not being "in the majority". This isn't a problem. I don't feel unwelcome, it's just something I notice.

(ed note I didn't express myself very well here, let me try again. Oakwood is the beginning of the outer suburbs of Cleveland. The area is a mix of working class, middle class, upper-middle class neighborhoods with richer neighborhoods to the east, farther into the outer suburbs. The closer in to Cleveland from this direction (SE) the higher the percentage of minorities. Just a little north from here, along Mayfield, there is a lot more diversity of population in neighborhoods. In this area (and much of the East of Cleveland) you can find African-American families in all the communities (from working class to rich, with a large percentage in the middle and upper-middle class neighborhoods in this area). The percentages drop a little in the working class neighborhoods (which tend to be the most diverse). However East Cleveland, and it's suburbs, still have the lingering effects of so many decades of overt, and then covert, racial segregation and white flight. Their are neighborhoods were in one block, the ethnic demographics of the community change quickly, even though the relative income levels remain the same. Cleveland's diversity is like a patchwork quilt.)

I'm leaving the club, the young couple in front of me (white, from one of the richer suburbs judging by their clothing and items in the cart, some prepared meals, no staples) is having some problems wrangling their kids to get across the driveway in front of the store. So I'm making my move to the right outside to get around them. Area is filled with people packing up cars, line coming out of the store (pretty sure the couple and myself are the only white people in the group coming out of the store).

A red Pontiac Grand Prix (the trunk is distinctive, it's a common car for this neighborhood), pulls into the aisle way in front of us and stops, the trunk pops, and a late twenties white guy, "athletic build" gets out of the passenger side. He has a gun in his right hand. Small rifle, probably 22-short, lever action.

At this moment the adrenaline hits. Some smart part of my brain says, "this is going down now, Buchheit, you're in the wrong place at the wrong time. They're burning churches, at least one in Ohio." The larger part of my brain is shouting "FUCK FUCKER FUCKITY FUCKER FUCK!"

There's a crowd. There is no cover. A step and I'm around the mother and kids. I now have the cleanest approach. I have a Sam's Club cart (large, about 40-50lbs) with about 50-60 lbs in it (juice and other things). I have no protection and I'm 20 feet away.

"FUCK FUCKER FUCKITY FUCKER FUCK!"

And that, judge, is when time proverbially slows down. There's a driver (obviously), I believe someone else was in the back. The car is a coup, not a big worry about the person in back. Guy, while built, doesn't have a fully balanced stance, isn't walking with purpose (he's taken maybe one step at this point).

The plan outlines itself in my head. No time to save people, no place to hide behind. But I have that cart, he hasn't raised the rifle yet. He won't expect resistance so quickly. I take a large step forward, knees bent, lowering my center of gravity and extending my stride. Plan finalized, I have my approach, it is non-verbal but goes something like this.

No chance of defense, offense then. The person in the back won't be able to get out of the coup in time, they're behind the driver. I can't see the driver but can guess their position from the car, they're blocked from seeing what will happen. I have 4 steps to get speed. He won't expect the cart. He'll raise the hand with the rifle in it to protect himself. I can grab the barrel. I can spin it out of his grip, go counter clockwise (pulling him forward into the cart and then away). As long as he doesn't fire I'll have the gun. If he fires, it's gonna burn. Continue spin, butt whip at the neck-shoulder junction as hard a possible. This will stop my spin and put me in a good spot to drop to a shooting position and shoot the driver. Next shot will be the stunned gunman. And then I'll deal with person in back.

I don't recognize the gun. It's obviously lever-action (first ping in my head). I know how those work. Who knows what condition it's in.

Why the fuck did they pop the trunk? (Second ping)

He's not holding it correctly (third ping). His hand is over the trigger guard, he's not holding it by the grip, still single-handed (ping). He's taken his third step now.

Something is wrong. Why is the trunk open? The Washington DC sniper set up a nest in their truck. But why get out of the car then? (ping) Why a 22-short? (ping)

Half step.

There are groceries in the trunk (ping). Who goes shopping before shooting?

He's not moving correctly. No balance, no attempt to raise the rifle.

Stop, hold cart back yanking arms. Probably look like I just tripped. This isn't right. Time resumes normal flow.

Person puts gun in trunk and closes it. I breathe again.

I've stopped in the driveway. My heart is hammering. Every cell in my body is still screaming. But he no longer has gun. He gets back in passenger seat they drive away.

He was wearing a t-shirt and kakis (olive drabbish). Probably works somewhere doing something physical, or used to play football (has a fullback's shape). And I want to slap the ever-loving shit out of him.

I don't know who you are, but, dude, you are so fucking lucky I don't have a firearm and wasn't carrying. You are also lucky that I have some skills left and part of my brain questioned what the other part had already determined what was happening. If I had a firearm on me, you would have been dead, and probably the driver as well. You took off before I could recover fully. Which was probably good for both of us.

In retrospect, you probably realized it was a Bad Idea™ to drive that neighborhood with an gun in the open. Hell, it might have been just an air rifle (although there was no orange tip or cartridge, all black matt finish).

You probably don't know just how close you came to grievous injury.

When I'm around police officers and I feel they aren't respectful of the weapons they carry I want to disarm them. If you're not in uniform, I feel the need to disarm you.

Why the fuck did you stop in the middle of the crowd, right at the exit of the store, to move this gun to your trunk? It's a big parking lot, there's plenty of space at the edge.

My chest still hurts. I'm still a little shaky. I'm having difficulty focusing on other things.

This is why this gun culture is bad (besides the "accidental" shootings and feeding the pipeline for guns to get to criminals). This is why the mantra "More Guns Make Us Safer" is a bunch of bullshit. If you own a firearm you are responsible for it, and for how you behave with it. The problem is, while you may think you're being responsible, you might not be. My guess is this guy thought he was being perfectly reasonable and "safetying" the weapon.

Jesus on a Pogo Stick that was close.

"FUCK FUCKER FUCKITY FUCKER FUCK!"

Wait, What?

Okay, here there be Sherlock Spoilers. Read on at you're own risk.

I'm going to call bullshit, right off the bat. "His Last Vow", really disappointing. Besides the "why can't we have nice things for once" plots twists, the end just doesn't make sense (even in a way of "ZOMG, and the fannish fanning over the end, you won't believe the hype").

The plots holes in this episode are so wide there's no gauging them. Besides committing the sin of "withholding information from the reader/viewer" serially in this episode, the quick varnishing of Mary being the leverage to get to Mycroft doesn't explain how Jeanine is Magnusson's assistant and Mary's Maid of Honor. As explained in the previous episode, "Sign of Three", the universe isn't so lazy as that.

And then there are 3 very plausible chances to kill Magnusson (which is clearly where all of this is heading) without leading to the forced error ending of shipping Sherlock off to sure death in Eastern Europe. The delay Mary has after disabling all of Magnusson's security - which, BTW, wouldn't that have also tripped the guards to gather Sherlock in the lobby since the big guy was already up top? - is just bad writing. If Mary is who they tried to portray her as, Magnusson would have been bleeding out by the time Sherlock and John got through the routine of checking the other bodies. No, really, pros don't linger and give long speeches (doesn't anybody read the Evil Overlord list?). As Syndrome says in The Incredibles, "I don't believe it, you got me monologuing." Yea, people don't do that. I blame James Bond. Anyway, Sherlock surly went to Magnusson's to kill him (he makes sure John brought his gun, why didn't Sherlock bring his own gun, though, he has one). Why didn't he do this as Magnusson is showing off his master plan (again, read the Evil Overlord lists) sitting in his special room (all the pieces are revealed right then)? And why John just didn't blow Magnusson's head off after the first flick, I'll never know (because, after all, he's in love with Mary, has already dedicated himself to protect her, and this asshole in front of him is both distracted and being an asshole, John already has shown himself capable of sudden violence).

And then there's the end. Really. Are we going to pull that trick a second time? So I'm going to guess here that it's someone else using Moriarity's image and reputation (after all, the voice is completely different, as exemplified by the final cut). Also, Moriarity was not a publicity hound. He works in the shadows, that's his MO. The pubic doesn't know who he is. He's not interested in generic terrorism (which this message clearly is), he is also about leverage and the pressure point. And there's really no way for Moriarity to come back. There was a conspiracy to help Sherlock, Moriarity was alone on that roof. Blanks? Sorry, even blanks fired inside the mouth will kill you (don't try this at home, take my word for it). There is a possibility that shooting yourself (or being shot) through the skull can leave you alive. It's possible, except for what happens when you shoot through the roof of your mouth with the gun in your mouth (there's a lot more damage than just the bullet, which is also why firing a blank in your mouth will kill you as well). Plus, Sherlock, our master of observation, watched him die. If it had been some trick, don't you think he would have noticed? Plus, pulling one character back from the veil may be acceptable, two or more become the "Pamela Ewing discovers Patrick Bobby Ewing in the shower" moment (except for Futurama, but then that is an animated show). So, no, not buying it.

I could accept the rest (drug den to get at Magnusson, which then sort of dies on the vine, Mary being an uber-secretly deadly assassin trying to make good, all the coincidences, and drugging everyone on Christmas), but that last one just tossed me out of the story. If this is actually a return of Moriarity, I have to call bullshit. Also, I have to call "lazy writer syndrome" (which is a shame given the rest of the show).

The Lamentable State of the Business Today

Or why I'm doing the reboot.

Why the design market sucks. here's one example from Monster. Looking for a Graphic Designer/Assistant Manager to handle co-managing a team plus be responsible for 100+ "multiple page" publications within 4 months (4x4x5=80 days, which means 1+ large publications per day). Plus communications with their 100+ customer base. And what are they willing to pay? $13-15 an hour (or $27,040 to $31200 a year). "Company confidential"? Why, so we won't egg your place? Dear company confidential, same you pal, and the horses you rode in on. Seriously? The sad part is they're probably swamped with resumes. More fodder for the reboot.

I guess it could be worse. You could be applying for "This position is your opportunity to join a respected organization that is redefining media advertising in Northeast Ohio by offering an extensive portfolio of digital and print media solutions." :: rolls-eyes :: The small print, "Northeast Ohio Media Group is a new, digitally focused company…" So, a brand new company that's respected and redefining advertising. That's some shit slinging right there. Oh yea, the title is "Part-time", but the description is "full-time". That's redefining all right.

Last but not least is this designer position who is basically responsible for everything. I mean everything. Writing, layout, proof-reading, and all their social media out reach (that's 3 full-time jobs right there). Plus, "Possess strong graphic design skills." Oh yea, there's also the "Demonstrate strong computer skills including proficiency in Microsoft Office Applications…" (meaning they want you to design print ads using Powerpoint). And what education do they want? "Associates or Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university preferably in English, Marketing, or Business Administration." Uh, yea, Bob.

Taking the money from Paul to refund Peter

With the Detroit bankruptcy the media is trolling out the conservative line about public employee pensions being a burden and how we can't and shouldn't ever pay this money to retirees.

Let me say first off this is complete bullshit. This isn't money we need to pay to people who aren't working, this is money these people earned while they were working. This was a part of their contracts, this was a part of the deal we made to get their labor. We agreed to take care of them later as long as they worked for a little less now. Oh, and they needed to put their own money on line as well as their employers committing funds to the pension. This is their money.

If the pensions are underfunded the real reason for this is not that the employees failed on their part. It's that the employers often failed to send in their part of the deal (and in some case, send in the money taken from the workers' pay).

And while I haven't done a scientific study on this the exact same people who are saying public employees should accept lower pension payouts than they were promised seem to be the very same people who told us we couldn't deny Wall Streeters their bonus payments, deny executives their deferred compensation, tax capital gains as income, and every other scheme where the 1% also "take lower pay now for money in the long run" because, after all, they "earned that money." Even if canceling one year of bonuses, or denying one executives deferred package could fully fund the pension programs those same companies then dump on the taxpayer through the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. And yes, many times one executive's deferred compensation and/or golden parachute payment could make most pensions full funded, and then would serve thousands of employees.

And did I mention that many of those mechanisms for the 1% are taxed at a lower rate than pension payments (except when those payments are so small the pension recipient qualifies for social welfare programs).

So when these conservatives (and they are almost always conservatives) talk about how these pensions are putting a large liability on government and your tax money keep in mind that as they're stealing money from these employees who have already earned it, they're also making sure all their buddies get their deferred payments. Finally, most of those people in public employee pension programs don't qualify for Social Security (also part of the deal they signed on to, but oddly never talked about as an option since we're changing the rules of the contracts they signed).

God's Own Law

Okay, well, I guess I'm tired of hearing the canard about how "our laws" (ie. the laws of the United states) are "Biblically based" and all "flow from God's law outlined in the Bible." Not to mention the often repeated, "we're a Christian nation and a nation of Christians." It's a bunch of bullshit and actually violates two of the commandments. But, let's look at it. While there are hundreds and hundreds of laws outlined in the Bible (mainly Old Testament stuff, and even more from the Torah and Halakha), let's just look at the biggies, the Ten Commandments and the Seven Deadlies.

And because I really like the poetry of the KJV (which was written in an antique language style even for its time), well use that text for the Big Ten:

And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

1.Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Okay, the first one out of the gate and here we have an establishment of religion. God's saying, "Ignore all those others, pay attention to me and me alone" (although I've had discussions on what this commandment is actually saying given modern Christianity's stance that all other religions are false here God seems to be saying that there are other gods). And that's in direct violation of the 1st Amendment to the Constitution (so much for the religiosity of our Founding Fathers if they can't even get this one right). So we have our first score and it's 0-1.

2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

There's a whole history regarding just exactly what God may or may not have been talking about here, but I think most of us can safely say that even with the recent "ZOMG, Terrorists!" rules regarding taking photos in public places, we pretty much ignore this one outright. While we don't (as a rule) make statues of gods for our public spaces, we've pretty much have made graven images of thee and me as it were as a matter of course. And if you want to say God was just talking about making graven images of him, and deny the whole "we are made in his image" trap, I say, okay, what about crucifixes, the statuary of Christ being taken off the cross, and the ubiquitous Warner Sallman's Christ painting that seemed to be hanging in everyone's homes when I was a kid. So, our score so far? 0-2. It's not looking good.

3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

If this was a crime, the jails would be even more full then they are now. Also, here I will point out that this Commandment deals with more than "cussing." Many an evangelical minister is guilty under this by saying they do what they do in the name of God, only to directly contravene his laws and precepts, not to mention the various infidelities and other crimes. Also, when Crazy Uncle Pat says that God/Jesus told him whatever was going to be true (like putting Mitt Romney in the White House and giving the Senate to the GOP) and then it turns out not to happen that way, yeah, guilty of taking the Lord's name in vain. 0-3.

4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

At one time in the US there were local laws that forbade any business happening on Sundays (and here we could have a debate on which day the Sabbath actually is). They were a part of the Blue Laws and most have been repealed. Heck, we can't even shame businesses to not be open on Memorial Day, Labor Day, 4th of July and Christmas, how would we close down the malls on every Sunday. So, 0-4.

5. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

Should I quote the long litany of cultural garment rending that accompanies every new generation about how they don't respect their elders and are a bunch of slackers? IIRC it's even possible for a child to sue for divorce from their parents. So, 0-5. It's not looking so good for God's law, is it.

6. Thou shalt not kill.

Oh sure, you think you've got me here, don'tcha? We could go into the various degrees of killing (felonious to justified) and if the definition of killing in war actually falls under this Commandment or even talk about how not killing people has been a standing rule since we decided to band together to bring down the antelopes that were taunting us. Seriously, it's been a part of any organizations laws since forever and dates back to the Hammurabi Code (which, IIRC, is one of the earliest code of laws written). But I'm feeling generous and will give you this. 1-5.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. (Puslifer)

Sorry, couldn't resist that joke. And, okay, here we do have codified laws regarding this. Adultery is grounds for divorce or palimony. But that shows the problem here, our law doesn't specifically outlaw it, but recognizes it's caustic effect on relationships. I could also discuss about how we no longer stone adulterers or require them to wear scarlet letters. But I'll call it a draw on this one. Yes, adultery is in the law code, but not really the way this commandment calls for. So, 1-5-1.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

Same thing as with killing, it's been in everyone's law books. I have some thoughts about what is now considered stealing (such as certain right wingers who like to call taxes "government stealing", and how tithes are essentially Church taxes and how they relate), but I'll give you this one. 2-5-1.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Perjury, libel and slander. Seems simple enough, and since I'm going with the killing and stealing I can not give this one. 3-5-1.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

We could talk about the nature of coveting, but if I'm willing to go with killing, stealing and false witnessing, here I'm going to take it back because "Keeping up with the Joneses" is a national hobby (and for any definition of coveting, "I want what they have" is pretty much a standard definition).

So, final score for the Big Ten? 3-6-1. Even grading on a curve, that isn't good.

So what about the Seven Deadlies? You know, the sins that'll take your soul on a straight path to the Lake of Fire. So if our law follows God's law, there should be some strong laws about these.

1. Lust

You've got to be kidding me, right? Okay, well, there are laws against some forms of lust. But here we are mostly talking about intense desire that is differentiated from Greed and Envy (numbers 3 and 6). If lust were made a crime, most teenagers wouldn't make it to adulthood without going afoul of the law. 0-1.

2. Gluttony

There's various definitions for gluttony that go beyond the simple consumption of food beyond one's need. But there ain't no laws against rampant consumerism either. Add in America's obesity epidemic and we get to 0-2.

3. Greed

"Greed is good" pretty much has defined the later half of the 20th century and much of what was wrong with the first decade of the 21st. Nobody has gone to jail (except for violating other laws like perjury and making false statements to investors). You could say the laws against insider trading might qualify, but I think that's pretty shaky ground (as the law isn't so much against greed as it is against getting an unfair advantage regarding your greed). So, 0-3.

4. Sloth

"From each according to his ability, to each according to his need…" So you would say that we would incorporate the socialist creed into our laws? 0-4.

5. Wrath

Okay, well, we do have laws regarding the effects of wrath, however not being in one's right mind, ie. filled with wrath, is sometimes used as a defense. So we'll call it a draw. 0-4-1.

6. Envy

You can't be serious if you think this would be encoded in our law. 0-5-1.

7. Pride

Yes, because it's not like we aren't a prideful nation. 0-6-1.

So God's Law fared even worse when it comes to the Seven Deadlies. Care to make any bets on the Commandments as reinterpreted by the Christ? I mean, if we take both the Big Ten and the Seven Deadlie together we're at 3 wins, 12 loses, and 2 ties. Given that Jesus rewrote and consolidated the Big Ten to his Laws of Deuces, love your God and love your neighbor, you'd think we would at least get those two down in the laws.

For a nation founded on God's Law, we don't seem to be doing very well with it.

Meet the new whinge, same as the old whinge

Oh noes, the EPA is going to require that gasoline producers reduce the amount of sulfur in our gas. Cue the rending of garments, the "impossibility" argument, and the "it's going to cost so much" and "we're never going to be able to do it" typical bull. Sure, it's going to cost the industry money. IIRC, cost estimates are about $10 billion. Which sounds like a lot, doesn't it. I mean, how will the oil industry ever find that much money. Why they'll have to raise gas prices by $0.09 a gallon.

I mean, Exxon-Mobil by itself only had $9.6 billion in net profit the last quarter. You know, that money they like to say they need to have to plow back into their business so we shouldn't do anything like closing up the oil company's tax loopholes and deductions. It might mean a whole quarter of one oil company's profit plus the change they can find in the couch cushions to reduce the Medicare and Medicaid's cost (you know, what you and I pay) by $28 billion by reducing respiratory problems. Not mention reducing smog and increasing the life and productivity of our catalytic converters and engines.

Remember when Obama came into office and talked about alternative energy production and using natural gas as a bridging technology from coal? Remember the energy production companies wailing and moaning about how much that would cost and the "oh we can't ever move that fast, it'll take decades and require so much money in research, blah blah blah"? Say, did you know that in less than 5 years we reduced our dependence on coal by 80% by converting our power plants to natural gas? And all it took was for natural gas prices to nose dive to where power companies realized it would be cheaper to convert to natural gas. Did you see your electricity prices rise because of all the retrofitting? Remember the "we could never get our CO2 emissions below 1990 levels" wailing over Kyoto? I mean, we could never meet that goal by 2014. Except that we met that goal last year.

So, no, I don't believe the companies when they say they can't do or afford this. Like I said, it'll take just a little over one quarter's profit of one of the oil companies to pay for this.

Yea, I'm calling shenanigans.

Hypocritical misogynistic bastards

Hobby Lobby is suing to keep from having to offer their female employees birth control and "female wellness" care because it goes against their deeply held beliefs.

Let me just say this from the outset, what a load of bull crap. And it's easy to prove. All these points can also go for all the rest of the hypocritical buttwipes that are protesting the ACA/Obamacare's (also note now the conservative realize it's here to stay, you're not hearing it called "Obamacare" so much anymore) requirement for birth-control coverage on "religious grounds."

Does their insurance also cover vasectomies? My guess is they do, as most insurance programs fully cover vasectomies before deductibles. Why? Because pregnancy is very costly and snIpping the lines is a good way to prevent pregnancy. Now you may be saying, why would this matter to Hobby Lobby's deeply held religious convictions. Isn't it a sin to spill your seed on the barren ground? I seem to remember that in the bible, mostly interpreted as "thou shall not wank," but isn't intentionally shooting blanks spreading your seed on barren ground? Because you still make sperm, and you still get the sensation of ejaculation, because your body is sending the sperm down the line, it just doesn't get out. No way to get pregnant there, so barren ground.

And here we can add tubal ligation and hysterectomies. Most insurance companies cover them, and there are lots of reasons other than contraceptive reasons to have these happen, but the result it the same, isn't it? I almost didn't include this because of those other reasons, but if the right-to-lifers don't believe in abortion to save the life of the mother, there's no moral distance in their eyes here in excluding these procedures.

Do they cover tests for STDs? I'll bet they do. But if your monogamous and "save yourself" for marriage, you don't need that service. In fact, isn't checking for those basically admitting to infidelity and promiscuous behavior? I'm pretty sure those are sins (and some of the biggies too).

Do they cover artificial insemination and other "getting pregnant" technologies? My guess is they don't. Why? Again, pregnancy is expensive and if you need those services your pretty much saying "difficult pregnancy." So most insurance doesn't cover this or the freezing of eggs (and now whole ovaries) or sperm. But doesn't God tell us to be fruitful and multiply? Isn't it a good family's Christian duty to have children? I seem to remember it being one of the duties. So why wouldn't they include all the possible methodologies to help their employees have babies?

Then there is also the problem of prostate surgeries which have a high percentage of impotence as an after effect. Again, thwarting the will of God.

I could go on, but I think you get the gist. Instead all they're worried about is providing women with reproductive options and birth control. It has nothing to do with their religion and everything to do with their misogynistic world view. If it were about their deeply held religious beliefs, there's a whole lot more they would be protesting. Their actions show their motivations. And their actions are that of people stuck in the "he-man woman-haters club."

You're joking me, aren't you

This morning on the way in to work there was plenty of discussion about how the CT State Police might release what they believe is the motive for the Newtown killings. With the heady addition of, "and then we'll know."

Really?

No. Seriously. Really?

This is the motive of someone who shot their Mother in the head several times. And then, just for giggles, went to his old elementary school and shoot the youngest kids there. And now you expect the internal motivations of this person to make any sense?

I understand this is a "search for answers." The reality is, "there are no good answers." Part of the healing process for the nation needs to be to accept that truth. There are no good answers here. Something was going to set this off. Low blood sugar, only getting 3 ketchups at the drive-thru when you specifically ask for 5-8, a low flying airplane, something.

But I'm sure something will come of it and we all feel safe once we ban kids from wearing leather dusters, wearing black, or coming in costume to movies. Because that's what's really responsible. Just like we all have to take our shoes off when we go through the airport because it's the shoe's fault. Thankfully backscatter x-ray machines arrived just in time to avoid making the TSA screening area look like a clothing optional community after the underwear bomber.

More Cowbell

I'm bad, bad boy.

Bad writer, no biscuit

Okay, I'm going to say this here as a way of publicly shaming myself so maybe I'll not do this again.

You may remember a long time ago me posting about finally buying Neverwinter Nights II and it not working on my wife's iMac (at the time the most advanced platform in the house) because of the graphics card. Well, on a lark Sunday I downloaded it into the new machine (which reminds me, I should do a post about how, after 12 years or so I finally upgraded my personal laptop a few weeks ago). Anyway, it's been working great the past two nights as I've sunk about 7.5 hours into the game and stayed up way past my bedtime to do so.

Argh!

That time would have been better spent writing. Hell, I've got the gorram notes to key in if nothing else (a nice stack of scraps of paper). But instead I've put my head down and escaped.

I would blame Saladin Ahmed for sharing that link about Baldur's Gate being rereleased, but that's a cop out. I know how I am with these games, which is why I don't normally seek them out. I let myself get sucked in. The first few minutes are free, to paraphrase. The rest suck your life away.

And the worst part is I should have been reading and studying for classes. The first test is tomorrow for Grue's sake. I can't let this suck away my school like Bard's Tale tried to do. Put down the mouse and get back to work, damnit.

So, what do you think, self? You've dubbed up good by putting that software on your machine. Bad writer, no biscuit. Just don't let it suck up so much time again. Set a timer, or better yet, do it after you've done the writing/studying.

Sears Parts Direct

Really Sears Parts Direct? You don't have the ability to cancel or edit orders less than an hour old (well, they can't do that for any order)? Yes, I put in the wrong part number (right type of part, wrong size) and that's my fault. However, I found the error quickly (1 number difference) and tried calling to get the change. So now I have to pay for two expedited shipments.

It's now 2012, you might want to get with the times. I've been able to do that with other companies for at least the past 5 years now. This is the second time I've had to use Sears Parts Direct, the first time I was sent the wrong part (your fault). And now I have to get parts for my water heater. Which, btw, expedited shipping takes 3 days?

Imagine how I feel about your service. I certainly hope you ship the correct parts this time. I'll just have to process the one for a return. I'll have to swallow the second expedited shipping fee. It would be really, really bad for me to be paying half the price of the water heater to fix the burner, of which we'll be without hot water for 4 days, only to have that delayed even longer.

I wonder when I need a part again if I'll use your site?

The lamentable state of protest today

This post was provoked by Eric's post about this protestor. Fred Clark has his own post here asking evangelicals to look at the world and realize, before anybody really knew anything, they were calling this guy an evangelical, because of his actions (sung to the tune of "They Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love").

Really, WTF people? This is a protest. You just don't have the first shitting clue, do you? You drive up to a General Mills Plant way the hell out front where nobody can see you and are trying to be so quick that you don't even pour the cereal you want to light into the bowl first, but try and light it as you pour. And then you're worried about burning the lawn.

Well, you have some concern there. What you're doing is criminal trespass, arson and burning without a permit (I'm assuming here), and if you torch the lawn that's criminal vandalism. And you don't want to have to pay a ticket or anything like that.

Sigh.

Okay, here I'll make the disclaimer that I'm not advocating that you should break laws or go to jail because those are really bad things to have happen to you. Try and get a job in this market with a record (he said as someone who had to go through a background check just to take classes in the healthcare industry). Doing property damage, even in the case of civil disobedience is a crime. IF you do a crime as protest, if you do it well you should expect to go to jail. But this? You know what, if you really believe, if you're really incensed, if you're so gosh darn sure the country is going to hell in a handbasket, then don't pee into the wind, okay?

This kind of protest in the video above is mental masturbation. It's only for you, and you're getting yourself off. This isn't protest, this is, "oh looky, I'm so upset, I'm going to do something that won't change a farging thing."

It's akin to the whole Freedom Fry joke of a protest. Renaming your French Fries and French Toast and French Dressing to Freedom Whatever doesn't do shit. It's sitting in the corner holding your breath to get someone to change an answer you don't like when that person is neither your parent, your guardian, doesn't know you from Adam or Steve and really isn't even looking in your general direction let alone in the same room as you. Or in other words, all you're going to do is either breathe through your nose or pass out and wake up later with a headache. Think France gets a penny every time you order fries, toast, or put red dressing on your salad? Hell, those things didn't even come from France in the first place, they're American as all get out.

What's closer to real protest was dumping French wine down the sewer. Only you paid for it first before dumping it. I'm sure the vineyards in France and their Export Ministers were quaking in their berets over there. Would you mind so very much if they shipped us a few of the extra cases of spoiled wine that we could pay for and dump? They'll even make you a special label. Doesn't matter if it's spoiled because we won't be drinking it, you darn Frenchies. Take That! Ha ha. Wait, what do you mean my credit card is maxed out. Oh damn. Time to call it off and go home and use Russian Dressing on our salads.

Sigh.

The Tea Party in one of their first go arounds on the Mall in Washington DC got a whole truck load of tea bags (hopefully Lipton, not one of those imports… wait for it) that they were going to dip into the Reflecting Pool on the Mall to show just how righteously pissed they were. Only they couldn't get a permit to drive the truck onto the Mall nor to dip their tea bags. Something about not muddying the waters or some such. And that was it. The truck went home, everybody bought souvenirs and corn dogs. Because you know our forefathers not only bought the ships and the tea on them in Boston (and all the other places that had "Tea Parties" back in the Revolution), but they asked awfully nicely if they could toss some of it over. Thank the gods there were no environmentalists to wail about all those fishes hyped up on caffeine. Ah, it was a better time then. Wait, what were we talking about. Oh yeah, those Revolutionaries were such a nicely mannered bunch, weren't they?

Look, here's what you do when the dumb asses stamp "denied" on your permit. You get about forty people to haul the boxes of tea down to the protest and just dump it anyway and wait for the capital police to arrest you. Dare them to, even. Because that's what protest is, damn it. And if you're feeling really strongly about it, you just back the truck up and put the truck with the tea bags in it into the reflecting pool.

The better protest was swarming the Capital during the Obamacare debate. But all you did was make the Congressmen and Congresswomen walk in groups. And, as I pointed out in a debate on one of the videos, it wasn't clear if they were headed into the Capital or headed back to their offices. Also there was the racial thing. Also, it wasn't really your core concerns (taxes and lowering the deficit).

What did the union people in Wisconsin do when they were going to close the Capital building to "clean"? "Oh well, chaps, might as well go home and get a good night's sleep." No. Fuck no. They set their lawyers to sue and they held their ground until it came to almost armed assault. That's a protest. They dared the police to arrest them.

When people marched over the bridge to Selma, when they got on the buses, when they stayed off the buses, when they marched with the unionists, when they marched on Washington, they understood that being arrested was not only part of the plan, but it wasn't the worst thing that could have happened to them. You might remember that civil rights was a shooting war in some places.

When people went on strike, they had a very real expectation that they might be shot. That isn't hyperbole. People were shot. In the mining towns in West Virginia people were mowed down with the new fangeled Gatling gun while they were in their homes (the train tracks went right through the middle of the company towns). When you went on strike you didn't march outside, you occupied the plant. It was a form of protection and it kept the owners from just firing you all and getting new workers.

If you're going to protest you need to make the people you want to change feel uncomfortable. If you're protesting against The Man, you've gotta make it tough for them. Get two or three people arrested and then everybody goes home, that's not it. I know they teach "passive resistance" courses on how to make it harder for the police to haul you away. Wrong idea. The people in charge really don't care if some officer gets a sore back from lifting you up. You want to make it easy for the police to arrest you. You want them to. You want to force that cop to process you. Because that (the processing and going through court) takes time. Takes real dollars and man power to do. You want to get a thousand people arrested. And don't let them off with only one or two at a time. "Officer, I demand you arrest me now." Make three judges get out of bed, come down to the courthouse to process you through because there just isn't any room to hold 10 people overnight, let alone a few hundred, and you'll make a dent. Keep all those officers late (more than likely on overtime already) to get double time to process forms. Trust me, someone at the State House will be getting a call. And you'll get on the news. Maybe not for your protest, but as it takes a day or two to process you all through the system. That's newsworthy.

So, Mr. "I'm gonna burn this here box of cheerios I bought from the store", you're pissing in the wind. You want to make a protest, grab a few hundred boxes from their warehouse and burn those. That'll cost GM something. That would get their attention (but probably not much). What you did, other than costing the local municipality a few hundred dollars to respond and put out the grass fire you started, was piddly shit. You just masturbated all over the GM sign there and then put the video up on YouTube to show how manly you were running away before anybody might notice you were actually there. If you did scorch some lawn there, I hope General Mills and your local municipality sends you the bill to clean it up, and puts a lean on whatever property you own to have it paid. After all, you handed them the very evidence they need to get the courts to act. Worth it? You should have chained yourself to the sign. Or maybe, since you're such a good customer, General Mills might just send you a coupon pack to buy your next box of cheerios to burn.

Oh, and here's your sign.

A Midsummer's Nightmare

So, let me try this as a story.

There's this Very Important Project™ that absolutely needs to be done by, lets say, in time for a December meeting of Very Important People™. The intrepid designer works their ever loving tail off, ignoring other obligations, to take the sow's ear they were given and turn it into, if not a silk purse, at least a purse of some quality. Oh the slings and arrows start coming in to knock the designer off course, but they persevere.

Now, lets say this project is one of discrete parts that have multiple subject leaders who must review and approved said parts. And lets also say that the subject experts really couldn't give a crap about this project being done, because they have other priorities and making sure someone else (more than likely lower on the food chain) has the proper information to do their job properly isn't one of them.

So the Very Important Project sputters to a stop before the December meeting of the Very Important People, but everybody is okay, because most of those subject leaders are among the Very Important People.

In the absence of that priority, our intrepid designer then must work on other top priorities, and slowly try to steal time to work on the Very Important Project. But, because everybody is very busy and there is no lack of Top Priority Jobs, they don't get very far.

Then the big meeting comes and our designer approaches the subject leaders and asks them face to face how they are coming with their sections. Now, some are abashed and actually work after the meeting to get the designer their edits. However, with the meeting and the fire for getting the Very Important Project done banked, other people steal the time of the designer and give them Other Priorities. But before we move on, let us focus on one subject leader and their conversation with the designer. The subject leader basically tells the designer that they haven't even looked at it in the 2 months it's been sitting in their inbox. And that they don't think they'll get to it any time soon.

Fast forward four months. Our designer has only worked a few more hours on the VIProject because nobody seems to give a good god damn about it. But then there's a last minute call for the information that would be in the VIProject to use in another VIProject, this one due in a week. Subject leaders contact the designer to "see where we are, and can the designer share those files."

The designer responds, "We're exactly where we were four months ago, unapproved, and in process, and sure, I can share those files. But only on the stipulation that I get all the updates back to fold into the original VIProject."

"Oh, sure thing," the subject matter experts say, in particular that one subject matter expert who, 4 months later, still hasn't reviewed their section. Over the course of the next two months, because the second VIProject gets extended, our designer provides Very Quick Responses to calls for help from a person pressed into being a designer for the second VIProject. Even, at one time, connecting remotely to their machine to show them how a certain function is done, only to end up doing that certain function for them for all the sections (because they were busy). But our designer is a team player, and they really want all the updated data back.

Only to not hear a thing about the second VIProject after that (note, request for files back would, lets say, be made seven times to all parties concerned).

Fast forward two more months and our intrepid designer, working themselves to the bone on another VIProject (which takes precedence over another VIProject they were working on), receives an email from our subject expert who told the designer they didn't have time to work on their section, and then begged for the files, and then completely ignored the designer. Also, this email is sent after regular business hours. The text of that email reads, basically, just asking when the designer thinks that first Very Important Project will be done. Note the designer still has never received feedback on that subject expert's section.

Now imagine the designer trying to keep professional while their head attempts to screw off and go bouncing down the hall. Imagine the designer not immediately replying with an explicative laden email because they know they would be fired for insubordination. Imagine the designer plotting their revenge. Imagine the designer making a personal vow to never respond in a timely fashion to this subject expert ever again.

Okay, well, now we're at the end you can believe that all of this was make believe. Or, as Puck would say, "If we shadows have offended, think but this and all is mended. That you have slumbered here while these visions did appear, and this weak and idle theme no more yielding than a dream. Gentles, do not reprehend. If you pardon, we will mend. And, as I am an honest Puck, if we have unearned luck, now to scape the serpent's tongue. We will make amends. 'Ere long else the Puck a liar call. So goodnight unto you all. Give me your hands if we be friends. And Robin shall restore amends."

There goes Tokyo, go, go Rush Limbaugh

This whole issue of censoring Rush Limbaugh has gone way overboard. (Grokked from Jay Lake) First off, Limbaugh's speech is actually "commercial speech" (or it used to be before the Supreme Court decided that corporations were people endowed with every right as regular citizens, excepting the right to go to jail for violating the law, but I digress). This would be different if Rush was standing on a soap box at the local park spouting his poison at passersby. Instead, Rush is the head of a corporation, he is paid for his speech, and his speech sells products. That pretty much takes it out of regular "freedom of speech" categories and places it into "commercial speech." Fortunately for Rush, President Reagan helped push through a repeal of "truth in news" laws back in the 80s. If those were still in place, Rush wouldn't have a show (and neither would Fox News, but I digress again).

And even free speech has had it's limits. While everyone (okay, most people) know the infamous, "Can't yell fire in a crowded theater" argument, fewer people know that it's not just about panic but about incitement to riot, encouraging violation of laws (ask any civil rights leader about that one), and a few other categories. And we have plenty of things that we censor. Do you have a copy of the Anarchists Cookbook? Should you be allowed to send death threats or white powder through the mail? What about your right to tell a joke in line (just try to joke about a bomb in a TSA or Customs line - it's a felony)?

I don't think that the FCC should pull Clear Channel's license on the "public interest" argument (and this is frankly the first I've heard of that). However, I do believe it is our right to contact all those sponsors of Rush's show and let them know that because of their support, we won't buy their products or shop at their stores. That isn't censorship, that's the free market, baby. So I strongly disagree with the authors contention that this is morally wrong. Rush isn't being stopped from saying what he wants to say, we're just looking to remove his megaphone. There's a difference. Also, if you're a corporate sponsor, you are supporting that show. If we say, "I don't like these opinions and that reflects badly on you for supporting them," I don't see anything wrong about that. Suck it up, Buttercup.

I also disagree that it's wrong to stand up and refute someone's argument on stage. See, there's all those other people in the room and as we've seen at various conservative political events, those people also have the right to shout down the hecklers. All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good (people) to do nothing. And by not responding, if you sit there meekly on your hands, you're giving tacit approval to what is being said.

The radical right has coasted for too long on the left's willingness to be courteous and tolerant, while they have not reciprocated. How many people remember actual discourse before it was a shouting match? I do. The right no longer accepts that, and they shouldn't be given the courtesy. Eventually that "do unto others" gets turned into "as they have done unto you." So it's time to talk over them, as they do to us. It's time to not let them get away with three attacks and we only get to respond to one. It's time for our own GOPAC memo.

"Free speech means tolerating views that you despise." Bullshit. Free speech is I get to call you on being an idiot when you're being an idiot. Like I said, I'm against using the government arm to push Rush out of the public sphere. That is censorship that we shouldn't do. However, I'm not above using other means to remove the man's microphone. And that includes shouting him down, hitting him in his income stream, and exposing his lies. Free speech means knowing that people don't agree with you and have different opinions. I need to protect their ability to express those opinions. But nothing says I have to tolerate them. That is a false argument. In this case, we don't have free speech. Rush's radio show, his microphone, distorts the acceptance and prevalence of his views. The opposition voices start with a disadvantage. Rush's "free speech" drowns out other voices (just listen to how he handles callers who disagree with his opinions). Don't think that's true, just ask any stand-up comedian about hecklers. The person on the stage has the microphone, if you make it a "fair fight" the person with the microphone will always win out.

Conservatives in this argument like to throw out Bill Maher as an example. As someone said, "like a b-rated comedian on a c-rated show is a comparison for Rush Limbaugh's presence in the market place." Jon Stewart would be a closer comparison. But, hey, conservatives, pony up to the bar. You've actually have had Bill Maher thrown off the airwaves before. He keeps coming back, just as I expect Rush will too.

Jim Hines has a good primer on this (although he's specifically talking about his own blog - also this should not be taken as an endorsement by Jim Hines of the position I'm outlining here).

And finally, you want to see what censorship actually looks like? Here it is. (also grokked from Jay Lake) This isn't the first time Doonesbury comics have been taken off the comics pages. So, hear the conservatives shouting about this censorship? Nope, what you hear is them saying, "Ah, it was all well and good 'cause we wouldn't want to trouble anyone on the comics pages with reality and satire."

Dear Rush Limbaugh,

Let me say first off that you can ignore me. I'm not a normal listener to your show. Mostly because I like to keep my intelligence intact and just a random sampling of your show and your viewers proves that would be impossible to do if I listened. But I do hear about your controversies, which seem to happen on a regular basis of about one every year and a half. You have a propensity for sticking your foot in your mouth, which is, I guess, better than the alternatives places you could be sticking either.

So take that into mind as I call you a despicable excuse for a bag of protoplasm to retain fetid water. You're not a poor excuse for a human being, you're a poor excuse for excrement. To call you a disgrace to thinking animals above the level of chameleons… whom I would rather spend time with instead of you, I'm sure our conversations would be more productive. The chameleon and me. I felt I needed to clarify that for you. Anyway, it would be an insult to the intelligence of chameleons everywhere to say that.

You called Sandra Fluke not only a slut, but a prostitute and someone who is only in school to have sex. And then you tried to apologize several times. But those weren't really apologies, and you're insulting our intelligence by trying to get us to think so.

And then you go on to say how you're the victim. You're only the victim of your own depraved mind. You're a sick, sexually obsessed, dirty old man. Saying you're sorry you used the words "slut" and "prostitute" but not the sentiment behind your slanderous statements. You stated that this student was having too much sex to pay for her own birth control. That she was doing it for money and wanted us to pay for it. And then you said that "we the people" should get the benefit of it by having her post web videos of her having sex.

Let me just say this for every woman I know, including my nieces who are still in college, you're whole commentary was an exposure of your depraved attitude towards women and your sense of entitlement. And I'm forced to ask, do you often watch sex videos on the internet? I'm just wondering because of how fast you got to that statement. Like you were building to something and needed the visual to finish. That any woman would want to be near you is an example of how messed up our society is. Frankly, I'm almost moved to get a restraining order against you on behalf of all women.

To say your mind is filled with more unwashed socks than the Grinch is to slander Dr. Suess, so I won't. But I will say your soul is full of gunk. Frankly I'm not sure that you don't leave a slime trail behind you like the bloated slug you resemble. That anyone would listen to your show and find it entertaining is an indictment on the modern education process.

So let me ask this. You're an "entertainer" and it's pretty obvious the only reason your "apologizing" is that 10 sponsors have pulled the plug. So you do it for the money. And I think you try to make the people who listen to you happy. So what does that make you? I'll leave you to your own logic.

You make me long for the olden days. Your olden days of puritainical rule and sensibilities. I would make the trip to Florida to throw rotten food at you in the pillories.

Pond scum feels sullied by the comparison to you. You're not an entertainer, your the neighborhood homeless guy on the corner shouting obscenities at the people in their cars. That you somehow duped people into giving you a radio show so you could spread your disease to more people is beyond my comprehension. I'm sure it involved drugs. The kind you used to take.

With all due respect, fuck off and die.

Yours,
Me

PS. I'll preemptively apologize. Some of my word choices weren't the most appropriate, and in my attempt to convey my point, I may have offended you. I sincerely apologies from the bottom of your black heart.

See how that doesn't work.

That I wasted my evening writing this scrib instead of study for my test on Wednesday can give you a measure of how much I'm pissed at this whole thing.

EDITED 03-06-11 I think what really gets to me is the pernicious mentality of social conservatives who ascribe to the old definition, "Conservatism: The fear that someone, somewhere, is having a good time."

And the mind set is very well portrayed in this youtube clip

You're getting your religious freedom in my personal freedom

Well it seems even after an accomodation with the insurance companies, the loony-right has found what they believe will be their issue for the election (or at least for this month). Religious freedom in the form of being in full-on dick mode to women and teh gays not accepting that if a religious organization owns a business outside that of tending to the flocks (as it were), that if they buy insurance (instead of being self-insured), they must cover contraceptives, and that they get a pass when it comes to bullying laws.

Can I just say this is unmitigated bullshit of the highest order and end the argument there? No, I guess not.

First off, and lets be clear about this, this issue has already been litigated to the highest court and the Churches have lost. See, many states already require insurance to cover contraceptives (and here we're talking about that scourge of modern society, the pill, not something like free condoms if you show your insurance card). And the Churches (well, some of the more loony-right winged churches) cried foul and said, "We'll sue!" And they all lost. Every single one of them.

Why? Because the law doesn't mandate that they use birth control, they're not being singled out for special provisions, and not everyone who works for those organizations is actually a member of the said religion. Also (and we'll get back to this), they accept government money (your tax dollars) to run their charities (thank you G. W. Bush), fix and repair their buildings (again, since GW), and Medicare, Medicaid, and both direct payments to hospitals and partial block grants (state distributed federal money). And, again, for the church offices, employees, etc, you have an exemption. It's only when you run an outside business that you need to comply with the law.

So first, a little thing about the compromise. President Obama basically went to the insurance companies and said, "Hey, what I want you to do is cover the birth control prescriptions for free, and not include that in whatever you bill these church affiliated (and sometimes not much more affiliated than with a name or address) business." And the insurance companies went, "Wait, you want us to cover the pill, the thing that lowers out costs (and price), that essentially costs us less than $10 a month, AND we get to bill them like we weren't including that (which is a higher amount)? Fuck yeah!" See, health insurance companies cover the pill, vasectomies, tubal ligation, hysterectomies, etc, because they are much cheaper than even a non-complicated pregnancy (also, see notes about how we're waiting much longer to have babies, which adds to the complexity of the pregnancy, which adds to the costs). So they see it as both reducing their costs for those pregnancies and then the added costs of the pediatrics (which are normally discounted to the end user). When you specifically request to not have those services covered, your potential use and cost goes up, and then so does your premiums (insurance is all about covering the spread).

But now that compromise isn't enough. It's a classic case of moving the goal posts. Also, I'll note here, that while the Catholic Church is against all forms of birth control (except the rhythm method or abstinence), 85% of Catholic women have used the pill (I couldn't find a stat on condom use). Now it's "we don't want anybody using the pill, and because it's our 'religious freedom' we want to make sure the rest of you don't have the choice either." Or, "You can have your religious freedom all you want, as long as it conforms to the most conservative Catholic or Evangelical faiths, and you must belong to one of them."

That's right, what the Churches want is the freedom to enforce their religious precepts on everybody else. Protestant? Agnostic/Atheist? Buddhist, Hindi, Vodun, whatever… domani, domani, domani, you're all Catholics now. That's what this is about.

See, if it was about "religious freedom" those very same people would say, "We don't want your government money." What's that? You don't hear them talking about how they'll leave all that juicy, juicy tax money behind so that they can remain pure to their faith?

And here I will point out the the very same people who cry that religions can separate their mission money from their church funds and that the two aren't related are also the ones who talk about how even with Planned Parenthood having separate bank accounts and business structures (and in some countries, having completely separate corporate identities sharing facilities) that you can't really separate out those funds because any money that goes to the good will and health services also free up funds/help pay the rent of the abortion side of businesses.

So, that's fine. You want to keep your "religious freedom" to enforce your will on people who aren't of your faith? Stop taking government money.

Also notice they're not decrying coverage for those other medical procedures (vasectomy, etc), or coverage for viagra, or really any of the other things that also violate their "religious freedoms" (well, they don't see it that way, because they benefit men), just abortion and the pill. Because they want a government that gets out of your personal business, doesn't get between you and your doctor (and God), and is a government that's smaller. Just small enough to fit inside women's uteruses (see also Personhood Bills)

So, that this is about "religious freedom" is a bunch of bull. This is about keeping power over women by regulating their reproduction. This is about not wanting to live in modern society because it's all icky and people have to share. It's about convincing you that some people are more equal than others.

What Steve did on his Holiday Vacation - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Over my extended vacation this past holiday, we went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to see their exhibit, Women Who Rock. I think I've said it before, some guy dig women with guns, women on motorcycles, women who like football, but for me there's very few things that can top a women in a rock and roll band. Fronting, playing guitar (of any stripe), drummers, whatever; they're damn sexy. So I totally expected this show to be fantastic.

Unfortunately it was full of fail. Not the women themselves, not even the local photographer's pictures that weren't displayed with the actual show, but 4 floors away in a side room, but the actual displays, which mostly consisted of dresses and album covers. Now, I'm sure the curation, research, and organization were just fantastic, but you really couldn't tell. See, they put the show on the top two floors (which used to be the actual Hall of Fame part, which was much better when it was there, BTW) which are the smallest spaces they have. Just one of the galleries on the lowest level hold more square footage than both top floors (the place is a pyramid, they were big when the place was designed and IM Pei was trying to redeem himself from the Louvre glass pyramid controversy). So it made for a very cramped space to hold a major show. With the number of people viewing the displays, and placing the actual informational text at the bottom of the full length displays, it was nearly impossible to read all that curation stuff. Then, because of the cramped space, objects were severely overlapped so it was difficult to see the album covers, sheet music, and other random artifacts displayed on the walls behind the dresses.

Plus, it was so cramped it was difficult to move around. Didn't you all at the Hall expect this to be well attended? I mean, you cut off half the entrance way by a pop-up scrim, which also decreased the natural light flowing into the space. And the Hall has been open for, what, over a decade now and you haven't been able to solve the heating problem on the top level? Seriously, it was broiling up there. Put in adequate ventilation, that would solve the problem. And placing the two video screens (noticeably inadequate compared to other displays) in exactly the wrong places and positions so people viewing what was on the screen blocked other people trying to view items in the display cases behind them (there was no place else for the people viewing the video to stand), fail.

And since we're talking about the physical space and traffic flows, just WTF were you thinking with the minimal spacing between the display cases in the middle of the floor? Also, I know there's another exit from the top floor that leads back down to where you now have the HoF. I couldn't find it. And I knew it was there, but I had to go back down through the display to leave. I wasn't the only one.

And then there were the display graphics. Really? Putting the major advances of women in R'nR on 12" paper "records" and pasted at different heights along the wall? Are we in grade school? Are we doing a bulletin board at the local YMCA? And did you forget that at the top of the circular stair there are no lights so you couldn't read the last few? And then there's the quotes along the stairwell wall on the top floor. They stretch too far around the circular low wall that you can't read the entire quote from one standing position, and they often run behind the standing display cases, so you can't read those. Then the sitting platform that runs around the wall was the only sitting spot in the show. When people who were tired of climbing and affected by the heat would sit down, they would block the quotes even more. People sitting on the seats obviously were often bored because they peeled off some of the letters, which again made them hard to read. And the screen on the top level slowed down the traffic circling in the cramped space which made the heat worse as well as trying to see the actual displays. Then there was the lack of indication of which way we should go to leave the exhibit.

Look, this stuff isn't hard. I know you have professionals on staff, did you let the interns run wild on this one? It was very amateurish. The flow of people in the exhibits, the design of the exhibits, the lighting, the sound space, and the access to the space - fail, fail, fail.

That's all before we get to the prize of your show, the Lady Ga Ga Meat Dress. Not impressed. Especially with painting it "to make it look fresh." It didn't. In fact it made it look completely artificial, like it was plastic. I know the drying processes darkened the meat to a jerky like appearance, but that would have been better (maybe with a photo of it "fresh").

Then we get to the general Hall flow. I appreciate that with the escalators (hey, there's 6 floors, you need to use them a lot) you wanted people to walk the long way around so visitors will look at all the exhibits or something. It kept throwing me off. I expected to get off the escalator, make a 180 turn and get on the next one going my way. Instead, while going up say, the escalator right next to the top of the escalator going up was the bottom of the escalator coming down from the floor above. Instead you need to walk the long way around to the opposite side of the escalator column to get either the next one up, or to go back down. This goes against every other escalator set up I have ever used. It's called "learned behavior" and you're screwing with it. Again, I wasn't the only one who had this problem.

That the final down escalator dumps you into the gift store really isn't a problem, although by that point it's like the final insult, instead of feeling "natural." And then lets talk about the gift store. And here let me say I know you outsource the actual running of the store to FYE (formerly Camelot, IIRC). But, it's still in your building and is allowed to represent you).

While I normally wear sold color t-shirts, I really do love a good designed t-shirt. And you had some excellent ones. Not in my size. And yet there were some t-shirts in my size (so it's not like you don't offer 4-5x sizes, just not in the t-shirts I really liked - like the lightning guitar shirt). And then I wanted a show t-shirt. Okay, you're graphics for the show weren't all that good (at this point that was the least of the fails, hey, I'm available and I'm relatively cheap), but like I said above, women in rock and roll = roawr roawr. But you didn't offer a show t-shirt for men. You only offered a princess cut t-shirt for the "Rocker Girls." Fail. Didn't you think that there are actual guys who like women rockers? Did you think only "the chickeroos" would come to the show? Fail. Fail, and did I mention, Fail. Oh, and how long ago was the Elvis show and I can still buy items for that one?

Then no postcards of the show, no mugs, no magnets either. And then when we ask a sales person, he explains that, "we had them, but we sold out, and the show only goes for another week or two." Fail. Major epic fail because at that time there were still two months of show time (so, fail because you didn't have enough stock and/or enough brains to reorder and fail because the staff don't fucking know the show went for another two months, not weeks)

I know I screwed up because at the time you were building I didn't spend the $100 to get a lifetime membership. At this point, I may be willing to pay twice that. See, at the time I was just starting my career and $100 was a bit steep (just a note to show you how much we love R'nR, my Mom bought a lifetime membership). So now every time I come to your house, I have to pay the $22 a piece. When I pay more for entrance to someplace less than an acre and that can be gone through in a few hours than I would pay for a single entree, I expect a little more. You're other displays show me you know what you're doing. Why couldn't you have come up to 50% for a Special Exhibit (ie. "come and spend your money with us again"). Display graphics are damn cheap. How about full wall size displays wallpapered to the open areas? Custom wallpaper has been available for over a decade now. How about using the head space for other information (instead, except for the top floor video display, all that space was wasted)?

As a staunch supporter of the R'nR HoF being in Cleveland (hey, NYC, if it wasn't in Cleveland it should have been in Detroit; NYC and LA don't have as strong a claim), it's really disappointing. My guess is it'll be several years before I go back.

Congress thy name is irony

So, have you noticed how the exact same people who said that we couldn't ever possibly impose compensation limits or oversight in the banks we bailed out (or for executives in other industries that the government has helped out) are now arguing that Fanny and Freddie execs and personnel must conform to government pay schedules?

I wonder what Fanny and Freddie's lobbying and campaign contribution budget has been these past few years?

What seems to be the developing political strategy

After listening to the break down of the Republican debate last night, including Perry's de rigor foot in mouth (seriously, if you are as precise as "3 departments", then you have the convictions that would immediately call to mind those 3, you only forget when it's a dog whistle comment), there's some serious knownothingness going on, but…



Oh, Groucho, how did you know way back then?

Edited 11-10-11 12:40pm So, there's seems to be a little misinformation happening as people jump on Perry for not remembering the 3rd of the departments he would cut. Let's be clear here, he only remembered the Department of Commerce because he was helped by what sounded like Mitt Romney. So Perry on his own wasn't batting .666 (2 out of 3) on his strongly held positions of his conservative credentials, he was batting .333 (1 out of 3).

Who mourns for Adonais? Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac.

Okay, officially tired of the meme of Fanny(Mac) and Freddie(May) was forced by Congress to make "imprudent" loans and that's what lead to the economic doom that was 2007-2009 (ie. our latest recession and the implosion of the construction industry and everybody's job).

The thing is, Fanny and Freddie default rates overall are less than 3% (for some origination years it's over that, 2006/2007 originating loans are almost 4.5%). That's for all the mortgages F&F bought/originated/secured. In 2008 their default rate was less than 1.15%, when other mortgagers were facing default rates of "1.47 percent for prime mortgages, 8.35 percent for Alt-A mortgages, and 20.74 percent for subprime mortgages" at the same time.

Where are those other mortgager's now? Well, here's one that thinks with a 5.3% default rate they're doing ducky. As of Jan 31 of this year, 8.9% was the going statistic for those that report to the FHA. Granted, F&F accounts for 50% of all home loans in the US, so that less than 3% is a relatively large number of people, but as an overall business, they are still in fracking' fantastic land.

So, yeah, it's not Frannie and Freddie's (or Congress') fault. Anyone still flogging this desiccated horse carcass is intentionally lying to you.