The New Road

Admission that we are leaving Iraq

Isn't the administration's saying that the reconstruction won't get done an admission that we are going to be pulling out of Iraq. Or am I missing something?

Fuzzy math

This song is what a truthful State of the Union would sound like.

Not watching the State of the Union

I'm not going to watch the State of the Union speech. It's just more lies from a dirtbag.

Interesting round of golf

I played the Sunol Valley course yesterday morning at 7AM. That's pretty early for a game of dexterity and coordination like golf. Because I was playing alone I hooked up with a two-some who was ahead of me. I played pretty badly on the first two holes. For one thing I was nervous and my mind was racing. And because these two guys were etiquette freaks and immediately got on my about walking on the ball path on the green. So that left me wondering what else i was doing wrong.

On the third hole I had a great driver shot off the tee and my game started to turn around. On the fourth hole I was in the cart behind these guys when I smelled some serious ganja. I made a joke that it was the orchid house across the road, but then they turned around and offered me some. I passed on the offer. It was clear that these guys were single, had a lot of disposable income, and had for 15 years had played together twice a week every weekend. For me, getting out is a big thing and I wanted to play the game.

They toked up about ever other hole and while their game started to flounder a little, mine started to pick up. By the back 9 I was driving further and more consistently. My putts are still off, and I still have to dial in my shots that are in the 100 yard range.

I have to say, I don't remember much weed going on around the courses in Miami. But hey, it's California baby. And whatever brings you some joy when you play is ok with me. I do find it a little funny that these guys were so etiquette oriented and were toking up. I certainly didn't feel bad when I brought out my iPod at one point to get a Bryan Adams tune out of my head. Bryan Adams will kill any game.

As courses go I wasn't really impressed with this one. It was short, not very interesting topologically. The hazards weren't very hazardous. It was my first time out and over 18 I never lost a ball, and I had a couple of nasty slices. So I'm still looking around for a really good course to play with my mom and Marsha. The current front runner is Poppy Ridge over in Livermore.

EFF taking on the NSA

It looks like the Electronic Frontier Foundation is going to take on the NSA over the wiretapping scandal. Here is the exclusive podcast report from O'Reilly's man on the scene... me. Cool!

Coulter is back

This nifty little bit of nastiness from Ann Coulter:

"We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens' creme brulee..."

Wow, that Ann Coulter. She is such a hoot.

I don't usually say things like this, but Ann Coulter is human garbage.

Apparently other people agree as she was booed for her comments. This is the way these things go. People who say extremely nasty shit like this for effect are initially given a lot of attention. But after a while the excitement of it wears off and they are seen for the crazy shrill morons they are. 

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Update: Here is an oldie but a goodie from Coulter.

"I think [women] should be armed but should not vote ... women have no capacity to understand how money is earned. They have a lot of ideas on how to spend it ... it's always more money on education, more money on child care, more money on day care."

On a lighter note

These cartoons are crying funny.

Feed the base, feed the base

The Democrats start to filibuster Alito, and what do the Republicans do? Bring back the gay marriage amendment. I love how this amendment pops up every time they are in trouble, then vanishes in thin air a couple of days after the trouble passes. "Filibuster? Abrmahoff? Did I mention that we are going to force those pesky gays to live in sin. Look over here. Look over here."

The gay marriage amendment; it's kinda like abortion, but it won't destroy the party if they win it. 

Almost makes sense, but then...

Sometimes Bush almost makes sense and says stuff that normal people take some heart in:

Q Could you call on your Texas straight talk and make a clear and unambiguous statement today that no American will be allowed to torture another human being anywhere in the world at any time --

THE PRESIDENT: Yes. No American will be allowed to torture another human being anywhere in the world. And I signed the appropriations bill with the McCain amendment attached on because that's the way it is...

Right, gotcha. I'm with you. Clear and to the point. You aren't going to torture. Great.

But then... 

I know some have said, well, why did he put a qualifier in there? And one reason why presidents put qualifiers in is to protect the prerogative of the executive branch. You see, what we're always doing is making sure that we make it clear that the executive branch has got certain responsibilities. Conducting war is a responsibility in the executive branch, not the legislative branch.

Doh! And now we are back to torturing people again.

I hate this tactic. This saying we aren't going to torture. Then turning around right away and giving a little wink, wink, nudge, nudge, thing and saying "but we will do everything we have to do", or "that being said I keep all options on the table", or "it's not up to them to tell me how to wage war."

Why can't he just say that we don't torture. Period. End of story. No extras. No wink wink. Just no. No torture.

(Editor's note: This is a direct copy of the official transcript. I never call Bush the President, since he's not the President.) 

Crazy vegans are ruining America

So we are spying on just terrorists, right? Right...

Two documents relating to anti-war and anti-government protests, and a vegan rally, prove the agencies have been "spying" on Georgia residents unconstitutionally, the ACLU said. (Related: ACLU Complaint -- PDF file)

For example, more than two dozen government surveillance photographs show 22-year-old Caitlin Childs of Atlanta, a strict vegetarian, and other vegans picketing against meat eating, in December 2003. They staged their protest outside a HoneyBaked Ham store on Buford Highway in DeKalb County.

My God! Those vegan bastards are protesting our ham stores. Is nothing sacred!

The government thinks anyone who leads a non-white non-Christian non-republican lifestyle is a terrorist? I can't tell you how shocked I am.

Moving to a detention center near you?

The Patriot Act renewal provides for protestors to be categorized as enemy combatants. And now I hear the KBR received a contract to create detention facilities within the United States. I should call up the White House and get my new mailing address.

I should let them know that using cats would be worse than dogs because I'm allergic. And that I have breathing problems, so water boarding would be particularly effective. Of course, all they will get is stuff about PHP, .NET, and exercise tips from Billy Blanks. But hey, torture is fun and funny for our Republican friends.

Insanely convoluted

Ok, so the Times writes a story that says that the NSA is spying on Americans without a warrant. And Bush, instead of denying it, comes out hitting on all cylinders saying that, even though he could have easily gotten a warrant that he just didn't want to. So the ACLU, noting the obvious, copious, and acknowledged violations of the 4th amendment, start their investigations, good.

Now, amazingly, we have people coming out and saying that the ACLU is somehow sabotaging the NSA's counterterrorism progam? How is that again? So Bush illegally asks the NSA to wiretap, when he very easily could have done it legally. And now asking the NSA for the names of the people tapped is somehow hurting our national secuity?

These people are amazing. The skewed, twisting, insano pretzeloid logic it takes to get from Bush performing impeachable actions, to fighting the ACLU because he didn't spy on us enough. It's nut. You have to wonder what these people would have said during Watergate; "Clearly the problem was that Nixon didn't spy enough! He should spy more. We want to be spied on. All the time. Like Big Brother. We love and trust the government so much that we want it watching our every move."

These people are like lemmings. They can't find a way to hurt themselves fast enough. 

Red carpets are scary

Red carpets are getting scarier and scarier.

Woody Harrelson

Woody Harrelson is a poet, and a damn good one, who knew?

Resuscitate then execute

This statement from the prison where Clarence Ray Allen was executed:

Having suffered a heart attack in September, Allen had asked prison authorities to let him die if he went into cardiac arrest before his execution, a request prison officials said they would not honor.

"At no point are we not going to value the sanctity of life," said prison spokesman Vernell Crittendon. "We would resuscitate him," then execute him.

 I'll just let that one hang there. Or as B. B. King would say, "simmer a bit."

Give-away TV

I think this trend towards excessive give aways in TV is harmful. It started with Oprah showering her audience and now they are giving away cars, houses, motorcycles, restaurants and on and on. And for what? What happened to overcoming hardships on your own? One show I saw was a home show where the people had lost their house in a gas explosion. Alright, I admit to not seeing all of it and maybe there were extenuating circumnstances, but shouldn't they have had insurance? And shouldn't that have solved the problem? Do they really need to get an all new house that they didn't pay for, completely paid off, with tons of TVs, video games, and goodies and such.

At the end of the day, what do you and your kids learn from having things just given to you? Working hard and being rewarded for that work are important life skills and goals.

It's not even fun to watch. There is no conflict. There is no sense of overcoming the odds, or coming through adversity. There is just give away after give away. And people being unfairly rewarded because of the television cameras in the face of business people. In the one show I saw a university enrollment office rolled over and gave the whole family free scholarships. Why? Because of gas line accident? What about the thousands of kids who work their asses off and still don't get scholarships? Should they just go in the basement and cut the gas line?

I'd love to see a study done about three years from now that goes to each of these places to see the conditions of the house. My guess, and I know it's pessimistic, is that most of them would be run down. If you don't work for it and make it, you have no respect for it, and as such it's worthless and it gets treated as such. It's like a rental car, except that it's a rental house.

Lesbian Viagra

The spam email I just got says that I am named Heather and I need viagra to please my woman. Oh, yeah, baby! I feel like Kate Mulgrew! Chokatay, get me that brown paper bag that just came through the transporter and have 7 of 9 come to my quarters immediately. Yow. Doo. Doo. Whakachica. Doo. Doo.

Hoodwinked update

Our fearless industry insider clued me into this L.A. Times story on Hoodwinked. Turns out the movie was made for $20M by a couple of Hollywood newbies. Yeah, I had my issues with the movie, but now that I understand it a little better I like it more. I really like the fact that they are considering doing more of these lower budget movies that are a bit edgier for kids. At a mere $20M you can take some risks. And from the kids perspective the movies are awesome. Who cares if the characters have a funky gate. Who cares if the rendering is just a few cuts above video game grade. It's only old geezers like me who nitpick.

The NRA black list

I love how the right wingers make their lists. O'Reilly has his short hate list. And the NRA has their list of, well, almost everybody. Sheesh, who isn't on this list. I also like how O'Reilly's page only lists far left sites, even though O'Reilly is straight up middle of the road. It's the folks, the folks don't like the lefties.

Seahawks will take it

Here is my prediction for the Super Bowl. It will be a tough game, lots of defense, lots of running. But the Seahawks will take it.

Fun Food Site

Here is a fun food site for you.

Underworld Evolution

Lori and I went to see Underworld Evolution last night. Nothing says date night like a gory goth vampire flicks where the women dress multiple layers of form fitting leathers. It was actually an Underworld weekend as we watched the first one on Saturday night in preperation. That was preperation wasted, however, as the sequel used copious cuts to the original film to give us all the reminder we needed. In fact, as sequels go, this one was as tight as it gets backing up the the original film as cleanly as if it were extra scenes in the same movie.

Did I like it? I thought it was a little long, and I thought it was a little over the top bloody. But, yeah, I liked it. When brain splats on the side of the screen you know it's going to be more than a little gory. Actually, I knew it was going to be a wet red ride when the trailers were all from the pages of Fangoria magazine.

Strangely I liked the effects more than Lori did. Early on she leaned over and whispered that the effects looked cheasy to her. Which I found odd since at that moment there was an effects shot where a man on fire was transforming into a werewolf, which is a tough shot that I was very impressed with.

Anyway, to sum up. Good stuff; Reasonable fight scenes, copious blood, hot chick boobies, reasonable man flesh, not entirely predictable plot, but pretty damn close. Bad stuff; too much man flesh, not great pacing, and, dare I say, maybe too much leather. 

As usual, several people brought the kids that were a little too young.

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I also saw Hoodwinked with Megan this weekend. Good comedy, but the animation was really rough. Pixar goes frame by frame to smooth over the animation to give it a realistic feel. These guys obviously took shortcuts and let the computer do the work. Some of the characters had jagged portions in their gate which I found really distracting. That being said, the bunny stuff at the end of the movie was pure comic genius in spots.

Another round in the afternoon

My plans for a movie with Megan this afternoon crashed so I was alone, had clubs, balls, a couple of buck and sunshine so I headed back out for another nine. I tore the course up this time. Par'd the first. Did well on the second. Had an absolutely sick shot on the fourth. The fourth is a long par 3, about 220 up hill from the whites, I took out my rescue club, took a couple of practice strokes, then just fell into this trance. I heard the crack and the whizz then I looked up to see what I thought was the ball sailing over the green. As I walked up I saw that it had landed on the green all of ten feet off the pin. I two putted, but that tee shot was just wicked.

I was playing alone and so was the guy ahead of me. We got stuck on the fifth waiting for a slow threesome. We got to talking. Turns out he is a real estate guy named Tony who runs his own business, has three kids and enough time to play a round of two. He was struggling with a change to his swing and I was just cooking along.

What a great set of rounds. I think my biggest problem up until now has been mental. I've been so concerned about what people thought about how I played that I didn't concentrate on hitting the ball. Now I have gotten more comfortable and I can zone everyone out at the time when I swing and really concentrate on it. That has helped a ton. Eighteen holes without a skidder ball, and just a few bad chips here and there, primarily because of the mud.

Anyway, sorry to bore you guys with this. I write it down mainly as a diary so that I can have some sense of progress. I think if I spend some time practicing my putts and keep working on my swing pacing I should be able to compete in some local tournaments. There was one just behind Winsha and I this morning, and from what I could see these guys were just your average duffers. 

Great golf day today

I played nine holes with Winsha this morning. I had a really good round, mostly pars and bogies, which for me is good. No birdies, but I can live with that. What was better was no really off shots. No grounders, huge slices or hooks. But the best thing, paradoxically, was my driving. On the 300 yard third I hit it 250 straight at the pin. On the 320 yard six I hit it about 260 but a little off to the right. And on the 270 yard eight I hit it 230 dead straight at the hole. Which is just amazing for me. The back yard practice has really helped.

Winsha had the shot of the day though on the ninth. She hit it with a little hook and it hit the concrete bumper around the cart path and just flew over the hole to about 10 feet away. It almost looked like it was going to go in.

I'm weather cursed

A couple of days ago I looked at the forecast and said; "Wow, three days of no rain and 0% chance of rain on Saturday. Great. Golf it is." So I got a tee time for this morning. Only to wake up and find... rain. Not a lot of rain. Just that mist in your face type thing. But rain right now, and for what looked like most of the early morning. So things will be soaked. And all that with the weather channel telling me there is still 0% chance of rain, with the radar completely clear. Huh?

Oh well, looks like a fine day for taking Megan to go see Hoodwinked again. 

No more CNN

Well, now I have to dump CNN. They have hired right wing freakish lunatic Glenn Beck. The man that calls 9/11 and Katrina survivors scumbags. He has torturers on his show then applauds their efforts. And he talks about what methods he would like to use in killing Michael Moore. The man is shit, and by extension CNN is shit for hiring him. Buh bye, CNN.

Ricky Martin fans beware

Looks like getting into his La Vida Loca might involve some, um, something, um, well, anyway, read for yourself. Yick.

Underworld Evolution

Lori is getting a sitter for Megan so that we can go see Underworld Evolution sometime this weekend. Mmm... That's going to be some tasty goth badness.

Upgrading to 3.2

This is really just a test to see if my upgrade to Movable Type 3.2 worked.

Iran

I'm starting to worry that we will actually attack Iran. I know it was the plan after Iraq, but the mounting insurgency, cost and the rising, now majority, opposition to the war halted the Iran plan. But it appears to be back now, with a vengeance. Which is really scary because nothing has changed much with the situation in Iraq. To me that means this new war is simply a way to divert us from our two current wars, both of which are going badly.

What dawned on me yesterday (ok, I'm not that fast) is that there is nothing that we can do to stop it. My guess is that war with Iran would be opposed to somewhere between 60-70% of the American population. About 20-25% of the population are hard right idealogues who long ago eschewed independent thought and always give anyone on the right a pass on anything. Those people would be hard pressed to find Iran on a map anyway. 5% will give Bush the benefit of the doubt. And the rest will see the disastrous war in Iraq and the pathetic campaign in Afghanistan and, very rightly, oppose this new war.

Unfortunately though, the percents and polls won't matter. Clearly Bush is intent on more war. (War being a fundamentalists answer to any question.) There aren't enough Democrats in Congress to stop him. And the Republicans are too blinded by money and scandal and will fall in line like sheep.

We already see them spewing the same garbage they did before the Iraq war. It's as if they are reading from exactly the same script where the 'q' has been replaced with an 'n'. Weapons of mass destruction... Mushroom clouds... Destruction of Isreal... Genocide... Axis of evil... Blahdy, Blahdy, blah... Whatever. Still no proof. Still no actual intelligence. Still lying about the intelligence that got us into Iraq. No, the French, British and Germans did not agree with our intelligence. And yes, the Abramoff scandal is only about Republicans.

We couldn't stop it then. We can't stop it now. What the hell can we do? The elections are at the end of the year and Bush could have easily invaded Iran by then. It's very depressing.

Oh, yeah, and then there is the most recent Osama statement where he says directly that Al Qaida is planning a fresh attack on the United States. You see, he can do that becuase he isn't spending a single nickel fighting us in Iraq. Weren't we supposed to get him dead or alive? Oh, yeah, I remember, it wasn't Osama who attacked us on 9/11 it was Saddam. Or was it Hugo Chavez? Oh, wait, no, it was the new president of Iran.

Wake me up when we are going to get Osama bin Laden please. He actually did attack us. This other stuff is just ridiculous noise.

Best Game Evah!

Thought the Penguin toss was good? Try this.

Map of Hate

Here is a fascinating interactive map of hate groups in the United States. For example, I didn't know that the Klan is in California.

Baby Animals

Megan is all about identifying babies and their mommies and daddies. In fact, her synonym for small and large appear to be baby and mommy. She would love this page of baby animals.

Amazing art work

I know this isn't arty art, but I like it. It looks like the kind of stuff that I doodled in school, but about a bazillion times better.

D & D Slam

Here is a, kinda funny, slam on D&D.

Guinea worm disease

Warning: Don't read the material below if you are squeemish.

I finished reading Carter's new book last night. There are several new insights that I gained from it. The larger points have to sink in. But some of the shorter sniglets really got me. In particular was his work on the Guinea worm disease:

Once it infects a person, the guinea worm migrates through their body. It eventually emerges from the body (through the feet in 90% of cases) causing intensely painful edema (swelling), a blister and then an ulcer. Perforation of the skin by the guinea worm, which can be 6 feet long, is accompanied by fever and nausea and vomiting. Infected persons may remain sick for some months.

The disease is gotten by drinking water contaminated with the infected intermediate hosts of the parasite, called cyclops. The full-grown guinea worm begins to migrate throughout the infected person's body within about a year after ingestion. In areas where the disease is endemic (pervasive), it typically reappears every year during the agricultural season, with farmers in particular being affected.

There are no drugs to treat the disease. Prevention of the disease is based on effective surveillance systems; the provision of safe water including appropriate water supply systems, filtering devices and the chemical treatment of water to eliminate the vector; and health education.

Of course, that's the cold clinical story. Where it really gets you is when he talks about his meeting with a attractive young woman who had one of these worms burrowing out of her breast. Only to find later that she was infected with 11 of these worms.

What is really disheartening to me is that this disease could easily be eradicated. Private organizations are working on the problem. But our government has pledged it's help with both money and resources then failed to deliver. Just like New Orleans, a failed promise is worse than no promise at all because private citizens can always make up the shortfall if they know the government won't be involved.

Wild Things photograph

I know we have seen it all before, but sometimes I just sit back and look at these pictures and say, damn.

95% of malaria money going to cronies

In his first year in office Bush talked up how he was going to earmark billions for malaria treatment. Turns out that 95% of that money went to contractors and only 5% ended up in the field buying nets and medicines. It's absolutely shameless.

Must every dollar the government spend be taxed overwhelming with payouts and bribes to cronies? And don't any of the people that get this money have even the slightest doubt or hesitation about taking money that would have saved the lives of countless children. It's just... disgusting is what it is. And to think these people call themselves morally superior Christians.

A real family car

Dru has been talking about his choice between various types of family cars. I recommend this:

Bugatti Veyron

The Bugatti Veyron is a truly practical family vehicle. It's 16 cylinders put out 1,000 horsepower and can take you from 0 to 60 in just three seconds. Getting on to the freeway certainly won't be a problem. And at 250+ miles per hour going over to see the folks in Florida is just 10 hours.

I wonder if it supports the latch.

Jason Momoa

Lori thinks I should get tickets to Brokeback Mountain after I said that I though Jason Momoa was good looking. Come on! Give me a break. I know a good looking guy when I see one. Doesn't mean I want to get fitted for new assless chaps. My old ones still fit fine. ;-)

Oh, yeah, and he isn't the lead singer from Stone Temple Pilots. Though he does look like him.

More outtakes please

I went to see Last Holiday last night with Mel and Lori. The movie is about a woman who is told she has three weeks to live and spends her last holiday in a spa in Europe, only to find out she has been mis-diagnosed. Ooops, I spilled the beans, but really, anyone with an IQ over 20 knew that was going to happen when Doctor Gupta (no, not the one on CNN) tells us at length about how the hospital's new CAT machine is actually used and old.

Queen Latifah plays the central character in a script that obviated any need to act. The entire second and third act her character is absolutely perfect. Everything she says is the right thing. Everything she does is perfect. I'm sure that a few scenes that put her in line with Mother Theresa were left on the cutting room floor. In fact at more than a few points other characters call her a 'saint'.

It's so over the top that it's tough to watch at some points. There is no self-effacing humor at all. That could be fixed through the script by giving her something that she would regret, like a tatoo. Then giving her a moment of "ooops" realization when she finds out she is going to live.

Or, if you wanted to go on the cheap, you could just throw in outtakes like they did in the 70s. Remember all those cheesy Burt Reynolds flicks where he would even look in the camera and give you that smile that said; "There is no way I'm going to lose. I'm Burt fucking Reynolds." The only reason those movies are pallatable is the outtakes that come immediately after the last scene that show you that Burt is, in fact, just a laughably moronic hack. And we all have a laugh, take another hit off the beer bong, and say; "Man, that was classic."

For me Die Hard created the fallable hero. Until Die Hard we got movies where the main character would be in a firefight with 10,000 bad guys and never get a scratch or muss his hair. Die Hard changed all that. Even our super-heros are just suped up humans nowadays. I would hate to see us going back to putting perfect saints on screen again.

Americans don't need rights

What I hear in the sub-text when Republican apologists and politicians talk about the wire tapping scandal is this; Americans don't need rights. Particularly white, heterosexual, Christian Americans would never need rights. Rights are for criminals who want to con their way out of going to jail. And rights are for people who talk against the government, which you should never do. So why does anyone in America need rights?

I'm beginning to think that the people on the right aren't familiar with the fundamentals of American democracy, and aren't comfortable with it when they see it in practice.

A government where the President can do anything without accounting to the people, can torture anyone, spy at will, and start a war without cause, has a name. That name is a dictatorship. You know, dictatorship, like George Bush said; "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier...just as long as I'm the dictator." At one point I thought it was a joke. Yeah, not so much now.

I'm sure I couldn't find a supporter of the right who would say direcly that they want a dictatorship. Nah, they are all too true American for that. But actions speak louder than words. If you give up all of your freedoms then what is the difference? In a Democracy the people have a vital role in monitoring the government and holding it to account. If you abrigate that role back to a party or an ideology you are foresaking your birthright and that is what will ultimately destroy this country.

Oh, wait, I suppose there is one right they still want; the right to keep and bear arms. But not for taking down the government, which was the original reason to have that right, but simply to protect their property.

A lot of time on their hands

Clearly these people have a lot of time on their hands. And knowledge of aerodynamics in their heads. Very cool.

New Podcasts

My first set of O'Reilly podcasts are up. The first is a conversation about audio with James Polanco and Doug Kaye. I think that one went pretty well. The second interview is with James Polanco about Fake Science. I don't think I gave enough background on that one, or asked questions that illuminated much that was insightful. I'll do better next time.

Sci-Fi Friday

Sci-Fi Fridays are back. Battlestar is looking freaking great. It's like a combination of the best of Star Wars, Star Trek, and The Sopranos. I'm really looking forward to the next few episodes.

And the Stargate shows look like they have been properly encoded for satellite transmission. So... that's a good thing.

Fremont - Quick 9

I played a quick 9 at Fremont Golf today. It's a short course, all par 3's and 4's. Mostly par threes. I did pretty well. It's a very wet course. Almost every hole has water to the left or right. I lost a bunch of balls, all of the tee. I had a great hole on number seven.

I hit a four iron right to the edge of the green over a small lake, from there I chipped it to within two feet and knocked it in. I didn't get a score card and the holes had no markings, so I didn't know if it was a par or birdie. When I got back to the clubhouse and asked, the young buck who plays a killer game said it played both ways but was a 3 today, one of the older guys gave me a wink and said it was a 4. We had a good laugh.

In some ways it's nice to play alone. You can play multiple shots, and you can either take your time or rush. I wanted to get home so I zipped along and I passed two groups on my way around.

Some of the holes were just too short. When you have to try and play partial swings of a pitching wedge from the long tees the holes are just too short. The ninth holes was nice though. I used a driver off the tee then overshot the green just barely with a 3/4 swing on a pitching wedge.

DeLay must have been a tyrant

Even when we can almost hear the clink of the cell door on old Hot Tub Tom, Congressional Republicans still have a tough time voting him out. That old boy must have a lot of dirt on the rest of these jokers. They don't call him the Exterminator for nothing. Or was it the Hammer? Either way. Wow.

I'm the Rain Main

It seems that whenever I reserve a tee time it either rains that morning, the night before, or right at my tee time. This morning was no different.

Woo hoo! Mud pit golf! My favorite. I can tell you one thing is for damn sure, I'm playing winter rules and I won't be hitting anything out of the mud. I screwed up my wrist last week playing in the mud. Not this week.

I hope I keep this ability into summer! Then I really want the rain.

Heavy Weapon

For you Windoze users out there, Heavy Weapon. Mmm... Chewy destruction and mayhem. I love this game. The humor is great. The action is addictive and fun. What a blast!

Sony's new book

Lori was telling me about this over the weekend. It looks good. Very thin. But I wonder with the choice for black and white. That seems strange.

Governor's speech actually not too bad

I listened to a little of Arnold's speech last night, and I read the rest from a transcript. Putting this stuff:

I've thought a lot about the last year and the mistakes I made and the lessons I've learned. What I feel good about is that I led from my heart.

Now it's true that I was in too much of a hurry. I didn't hear the majority of Californians when they were telling me they didn't like the special election. I barreled ahead anyway when I should have listened.

I have absorbed my defeat and I have learned my lesson. And the people, who always have the last word, sent a clear message -- cut the warfare, cool the rhetoric, find common ground and fix the problems together. So to my fellow Californians, I say, "Message received."

Was pure genius. He was genuinely disarming. This is clearly the best apology I've heard from a Republican in so many years. It's not couched. It's not a sideways attack. It's meant to be reprinted and it clearly uses words like 'mistakes' in a way that make it very clear what he means.

I have to say, I'm impressed. Obviously given all of the shennigans and the want to turn our state into a political cesspit run by cronies, like Texas, through redistricting, there is no possible way I would ever vote for the man. But, he has some good ideas, and he really seems to understand how badly he screwed up in the special election.

If you don't know, Arnie called a special election over four ballot measures, all of which were roundly defeated. You see, Republicans lose when the voting system works properly. If the votes are counted, Democrats win.

Anyway, I digress. Back to the main point. Arnie wasn't as atrocious as he usually is. Hooray! Bush could definitely learn something from this man. Admit your mistakes. But, well, if he were to do that it would go something like;

I admit that I manipulated the intelligence to start an illegal war. I admit to spying on the American people. I admit to outing a CIA operative and, in so doing, threating national security. I admit to vote fraud. I admit to hiring incompetent cronies into critical positions for personal gain. I admit to using the politics of personal destruction and division to such a level that the politics of this country may be hopelessly screwed. In the light of all of that I declare mine the worst presidency in the history of the United States and I resign.

It's too much to hope for. But I can dream.

Ticket To Ride

Lori and I have been playing Ticket To Ride recently. It's the easiest and most fun train game I have ever played. Normally train games are geeky and slow. But this is fun, and fairly exciting, or as exciting as board games get.

In an interesting twist the board games comes with a pass to the online version of the game. Cool.

Satirical Rift

Another O'Reilly thing from yesterday. Bill was being interviewed on our San Francisco local morning Air America show and was asked to defend his comments about encouraging an Al Qaida attack on Coit tower. He said that it was just a satirical rift. He said it three times. The same mistake. Three times. The man is so stupid he doesn't even know the difference between a rift and a riff. Incredible.

O'Reilly ripped on Letterman

O'Reilly got torqued by Letterman.

Letterman: I have the feeling about 60 percent of what you say is crap...

Clearly a conservative estimate. I would put it more in the 95% range. You have to look hard to find when he isn't lying.

O'Reilly is such a fucking moron. "M-one-six"? He is so fucking stupid he can't even get the name of the agencies that he is lying about right. He is nothing but a sphincter for the Bushies wrapped in a cheap suit.

I heard him this morning on one of our local shows saying that he didn't start it, that Letterman ganged up on him. Watch the video. It clearly wasn't like that. The man can't even lie properly.

Favorite Bush quote for the day

This is one of his best:

"The French dont even have a word for entrepreneur..."

Mmm... That's some sweet stupidity.

Torture ban, not so much

Turns out that our victory on the torture ban was just smoke and mirrors. Bush reserved the right to ignore the law on the premise that he is the President and that's that. Which means we are back in the torture business again.

Actually, given the fact that he ignored the FISA law completely, I'm not sure a law against torture would have stopped him anyway.

Jack Abramoff

Here is a little quote from Jack Abramoff for you:

"It is not our job to seek peaceful coexistence with the left. Our job is to remove them from power permanently."

Turns out the whole equal opportunity lobbyist line coming from the right is... mmm... crap.

An Oldie But a Goodie

Take your best shot.

Going Republican

Yep, I'm goin' Republican! I'm gonna be red all over.

BTW, I found this with StumbleUpon. It's a sweet service.

Who Wants To Die?

Apparently Elmo wants to know who wants to, well, die.

You're So Bush

Having lived through five years of the worst Presidency in history I have to start thinking about how the word Bush will be used after he has left office (hopefully frogmarched).

So here are some possible meanings for slang use of the word Bush:

Moronic

Too simplistic. Plus I think we will find out that he had some type of degenerative mental illness and that will make this use of the term needlessly degrading.

An ignorant dictator

Certainly this is dark, but it matches what we have seen. It's also very similar to they styles of some managers, so it would get a lot of use. I kinda like it. If you would torture, spy, and rule to the benefit of just of few, then you are definitely Bush.

To fake, or to be fake

I like this one a lot. He is a fake President. He is a fake cowboy. He is a fake soldier. His events are fake. His words are fake. Everything about Bush is fake. And the big losers from that is us.

Bumbling oaf

Along the lines of the moronic synonym, it doesn't say enough about just how bad this guy is. Ford (the forgotten President) was a bumbler, and he was nowhere near as bad as this guy. Ford was the only Republican President in modern times not to commit high crimes in office. Which, for a Republican, puts him right up there on the niceness list. Well, he didn't have a lot of time, I guess.

To plan so badly that all could be lost. And in particular to have a good plan to start, but no followup plan.

Perhaps too specific. But it would work well in both a business or personal context, and that makes it adaptable enough to be used regularly.

To be a crony, hire cronies, and be hopelessly entangled in cronyism. As well as incapable of actually finding competent team members.

This one of the aspects of the Bushies that I find the most heinous. I don't have a problem with good people making good money by doing a good job. It's when cronies make tons of money because of connections, double dealing and shifty shenanigans that we all lose. Katrina is the classic example of this. The lesson of Katrina isn't about some bullshit busses story, it's about cronyism and the important role of the federal government.

To underestimate with devastating results. Or as Bush himself would say, to misunderestimate.

Very fitting, but perhaps so specific that it would only be used in only the most serious of cases (e.g. wars, company failures, etc.) And that's not often enough to get it really going.

An inconsistent luddite. Example; A person who believes the Earth is flat, the sun rotates around the earth, but has an iPod.

Certainly conveys the quixoticate insanity of the Bush policies of inculcated stupidity. But, one would hope, would appear too infrequently to give the term the required level of use.

To fall below expectations that have already been set to the lowest possible level.

Oooo... I like that. A lot. It would come up a lot and it has the added benefit of bringing along all of nasty crap that Bush pulled. Bush does seem to always find a way to a new level of low. For example, wearing a wire at the debates, and showing up in a bullet proof vest.

Seriously, I have to come up with some meaning that imparts the gravitas of how awful this man and his administration really is. Bush is not only the worst President ever, he is easily the worst American in history, and certainly in the top ten of worst human ever.

Happy New Year

Oh, yeah, I forgot. Happy New Year! Let's hope 2006 is better than 2005. I already popped off a letter to Bush telling him that the best gift he could give to the world would be to resign. No reply yet... Still waiting...

iPod Video

I haven't blogged in a few days since my machine has been glued to Lori's desk over the weekend burning content for the iPod Video (legally, thank you.)

The plusses of the iPod Video. It's killer light, very thin, and plays video.

The negatives are many though as well. It only syncs through USB. That makes absolutely no sense since the file size of video is larger than audio, so we need more bandwidth not less. Lori was able to sync my old iPod to her iTunes in a quarter of the time that I was able to put about the same amount of the iPod Video. Grrr...

And the packaging sucks. There is no charger. There is no holster. There is no audio/video breakout cable.

The video playback is cool, but it's clear that it's completely unattached to the audio playback. It feels like a glued on feature. The volume slider is different. The position slider is different. And most annoying of all, the video player doesn't remember your position in the movie between playing sessions. And with a two hour movie, without chapters, it can be a real pain to get back to where you were. Ugh.

I also have a nagging fear that the face plate will be as scratchable as the iPod Video's cousin the iPod Nano.

Anyway, so far with the iPod Video, I'm not too impressed.

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Update: Another problem with the iPod Video is that video playback eats the battery something fierce. My experience is that after about 15 minutes of video the battery is drained by 1/4. Which means that you get about an hour of playback on the battery. The spec says two. I doubt that. The spec also says that the battery cost is doubled if you are driving external outputs (e.g. a television screen with the video output). Which means it's even worse. That puts my, "hand held doohicky that I can give to Megan in the car" scenario pretty much out the window.

The upside is that the work I did ripping the kids video will still pay off because I can put them on a memory stick and use the PSP, which has a much larger screen and a better battery life.