Thursday, January 31, 2008
McCain On Supremes
Just how would he answer?
Ace posts the following from the Corner:
There’s one question that no one seems to have asked McCain about judges: will he apply his “reach across the aisle” attittude to SCOTUS nominations? Or put another way, is McCain going to be the Senate’s man in the White House, or is he going to stand his ground on nominations? It’s frustrating to me that no reporters (or anyone else) have asked these kinds of questions of McCain. Here’s the long version of the question:
If you are president when the next Supreme Court vacancy occurs, and you seek advice and input about who would be a good nominee, will you ultimately nominate the person who you believe would do the best job on the Court, or would you instead seek a consensus nominee who you think will best satisfy yourself and fifty or sixty United States senators?
I have absolutely no clue how McCain would answer this.
Ramesh Ponuru answers, well somewhat:
Me neither. His remark that consulting with senators is required by the Constitution was not a hopeful portent, but perhaps that remark does not reflect his considered judgment.
Consensus begets Supreme Court nominees like Harriet Miers.
Standing on principle begets Supreme Court nominees like Samuel Alito.
It’s an important question, and I have yet to hear McCain be asked it.
I’m Deranged Apparently
Sure fire way to get me to change my mind?
Not that I would change my mind, but it is nice to see some people put forth the effort and everything.
It just isn’t possible that I actually have real and substantive reasons for making a choice to leave my vote for president blank come November should McCain be the nominee. No, I obviously suffer from some mental impairment that compels me to.
Karl over at Protein Wisdom does a take down on this nonsense.
Also, Jeff G. adds something.
For The Children (UPDATED)
Maybe the thin air got to him?
Bill Clinton, campaigning for Hillary in my current home state of Colorado had this to say:
Former President Bill Clinton was in Denver, Colorado, stumping for his wife yesterday.
In a long, and interesting speech, he characterized what the U.S. and other industrialized nations need to do to combat global warming this way: “We just have to slow down our economy and cut back our greenhouse gas emissions ’cause we have to save the planet for our grandchildren.” (my emphasis)
To which Stephen Green snarked, “Hillary’s tax plan ought to do the trick.”
I snark back of course; there’s an alternative and it’s called McCain-Lieberman.
Like how I worked that in? 
In All Fairness Update: Here’s the complete Clinton quote found at of all places, The Corner:
And maybe America, and Europe, and Japan, and Canada — the rich counties — would say, ‘OK, we just have to slow down our economy and cut back our greenhouse gas emissions ‘cause we have to save the planet for our grandchildren.’ We could do that. But if we did that, you know as well as I do, China and India and Indonesia and Vietnam and Mexico and Brazil and the Ukraine, and all the other countries will never agree to stay poor to save the planet for our grandchildren.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
I’m Baaaack!
Just when you thought I was out, I got pulled back in.
I can’t say that I will be a major contributor but I will contribute something from time to time.
If you’ve forgotten about my blogging style then browse the blog’s archives.
Anyway, it’s good to be back here at The Rants, thanks Drum. 
Yeah, he’s made a few mistakes
But George W. Bush has also gotten a lot of it right.
The Anchoress does a complete rundown, including videos.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Where’s the Liveblogging?
My promise...I will be liveblogging the Super-Duper-Mongo Tuesday Primary, where McCain and Romney will be hashing out the more-than-likely brokered Republican Convention and who will be where on the McCain-Romney ticket.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Very simple concepts
Very complicated results.
I am listening to an audiobook, and I can honestly recommend it: Dr. Thomas Sowell’s Basic Economics.
But I was browsing through the directory on my computer where I keep these files, and I ran across a very interesting little file.
It’s called The Philosophy of Liberty.
I will only say, go watch it. (Entirely safe for work unless you don’t like your job.)
Then come back and let’s discuss…
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Oh, great…
WTF do I do now?
I went out and bought this Terabyte external HDD for use as my “backup” drive last Christmas. (Just over 13 months ago.)
I’ve been steadily filling it with junk (including almost all of my collection of albums) until I had loaded it to about 60% of specified capacity. That’s just over 500 Gigabytes, for those of you who are keeping track.
And now my computer is saying that the drive is “malfunctioning”, and that the USB won’t recognize it enough to interact with it.
Lez }pouf{, as the saying goes… 
Trying to hammer out the details
Da Missus and I are trying to figure out the details for the new contest, and I thought it would be interesting to add a plot twist of sorts.
We thought that perhaps a “Theme Contest” would be fun.
The idea I had was that I would put up a group of song clips, just as before, and that they would be connected in some vague but definable way. The entry would not only have to get the songs right, but to also guess the link between the various songs.
There are some details to hammer out, but let me give you a brief example:
Suppose I posted clips from the songs “Don’t Fear The Reaper” by Blue Oyster Cult, “Working For The Weekend” by Loverboy, “New Frontier” by Donald Fagen, “We’re An American Band” by Grand Funk Railroad, and “Play That Funky Music” by Wild Cherry.
Can any of you guess the common thread between those five songs?
Hint: it’s the only thing that can cure Christopher Walken’s fever… 
Does this sound too hard?
Friday, January 25, 2008
No comment
You cannot IMAGINE how frustrating it has become since I got my appointment letter from the Registrar.
Since I am now the “public face” for a government agency, I’m not allowed to talk publicly about any candidate or issue that might appear on any of the ballots that would be used here in Riverside County. 
Which is REALLY tough, considering.... 
All I’m going allowed to say is “look into the candidates and issues THOROUGHLY”.
That is all. 
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Fun While It Lasted: Fred Thompson Drops Out
Looks like we have to find a new candidate.
Former Sen. Fred Thompson on Tuesday ended his run for the presidency, coming off the heels of a disappointing third-place finish in South Carolina’s GOP primary and heading into the showdown state of Florida next week.
“Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for president of the United States,” Thompson said in a statement.
“I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people.”
Thompson entered the race in September, long after his Republican rivals had announced their candidacies and began raising money. His campaigning style was criticized as lackluster, and he was never able to capitalize on the anticipation supporters had built before he announced that he was getting into the race.
Thompson was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994 and represented Tennessee for eight years.
Short of cash and sinking in national polls, Thompson had staked his hopes on South Carolina, where a strong showing could have reinvigorated his flagging campaign.
Thompson played to the voters as a staunch conservative and a son of the South. While he did draw some evangelical voters from one-time Baptist preacher and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, it wasn’t enough to pull him into contention for the nomination.
He finished with 16 percent of the vote. Sen. John McCain won Saturday’s contest with 33 percent, followed by Huckabee with 30 percent.
“He’s really been good lately, but it’s too late,” CNN analyst Bill Bennett said of Thompson after South Carolina returns started to come in. “If you’re a Southern conservative and you can’t make it in South Carolina, it’s over.”
Earlier, Thompson finished third in Iowa, fifth in Michigan and Nevada, sixth in New Hampshire and a distant second to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in Wyoming.
Thompson teased Republicans all last summer after forming a fundraising committee for a possible presidential campaign on June 1.
When he announced in September that he was formally entering the race, it was well after the other Republicans had launched their campaigns, and analysts said the late entry may have hurt him.
Thompson is an actor best known for his role as District Attorney Arthur Branch on NBC’s “Law & Order.”
Five candidates remain in the Republican race—McCain, Huckabee, Romney, Rep. Ron Ron Paul of Texas and former New York Mayor Rudy Rudy Giuliani.
Giuliani has largely skipped the early voting states to focus on the January 29 primary in Florida and the delegate-rich races in the “Super Tuesday” primaries February 5.
Back to the drawing board.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Kung Fu Hustle
Ouch!
I bet this is the last time this cholo ever messes with a white boy who knows kung fu:
What goes around, comes around.
Reminder notice
The three of you who won this last “Guess The Song” contest need to send me a mailing address as soon as you can.
You may now return to your particular slice of reality.
I’m Lost After Watching Lost
What the hell!?
I finally finished season three of Lost on DVD and I’m more mad than ever.
If you’re easily agitated by “spoilers,” then go to MCNBC and find a few Sodoku puzzles to work on, because I’m about to sing like a canary.
The premise of the show Lost is that a group of people on a plane crash on an island with some mysterious inhabitants. If you want to know more about the show and where I’m about to go with this, go to Wikipedia’s Lost page and do some reading.
I can’t believe that I’m the only person in the world that’s about to ask this question, but I guess I am - why hasn’t anyone in the group of 50+ people tried to kill the infamous leader of the Others, the man, the myth, and the legend himself, Ben? This guy has been alone and on his own more times than I can count, including during the last episode of season three, but no one kills him. Here is the guy that will not let anyone leave the island, and everyone lets him live because he’s crafty with words.
Second, why is the Dharma Initiative still sending food and all sorts of stuff to the island when the original inhabitants, now led by Ben, took over Dharma and killed everyone with a few dozen cans of chem weapons? Am I missing something here? Did the others take a plane back from the island and take over the entire Dharma Initiative wherever they are located and start running the show?
And speaking of which, if they are this all-knowing and all-powerful shadow organization, then how come their plans are always ruined by a few meddling… oh wait… I mean a few stranded people from a flight that never made it home?
Let’s talk about Locke for a second. Time after time Locke has successfully blown-up something that the group needs in order to go home. He blew up the hatch, he blew up the radio station, he blew up the submarine, and he tossed a knife in the back of the chick who had the satellite phone. But low and behold, everyone just say’s “Hey Locke, good to see you, want some mango?” when the dust settles. Considering that the group is stuck on a so-called magical island that no one knows about in the middle of nowhere, I don’t think the LAPD is going to come running when Locke ends up with a two-foot piece of bamboo sticking out of the back of his head.
Finally, why is Jack all bent out of shape about whatever happened on the island? He’s back home in Los Angeles, Kate is somewhere near, but he’s all bitter and emo’d out with a trashy beard and some dirty clothes.
I could go on and on, but I’ll leave it at that for now. Lost sucks. JJ Abrams, you can kiss my ass. You have no idea where you are going with this story, and you’re making it up you go along. Admit it, build a bridge, and get over it homeboy.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Brain Drain
Dude… back off...
I would become the most anti-technological person in the world if this became a reality in the workplace.
Microsoft is developing Big Brother-style software capable of remotely monitoring a worker’s productivity, physical wellbeing and competence.
The Times has seen a patent application filed by the company for a computer system that links workers to their computers via wireless sensors that measure their metabolism. The system would allow managers to monitor employees’ performance by measuring their heart rate, body temperature, movement, facial expression and blood pressure. Unions said they fear that employees could be dismissed on the basis of a computer’s assessment of their physiological state.
Technology allowing constant monitoring of workers was previously limited to pilots, firefighters and Nasa astronauts. This is believed to be the first time a company has proposed developing such software for mainstream workplaces.
Microsoft submitted a patent application in the US for a “unique monitoring system” that could link workers to their computers. Wireless sensors could read “heart rate, galvanic skin response, EMG, brain signals, respiration rate, body temperature, movement facial movements, facial expressions and blood pressure”, the application states.
The system could also “automatically detect frustration or stress in the user” and “offer and provide assistance accordingly”. Physical changes to an employee would be matched to an individual psychological profile based on a worker’s weight, age and health. If the system picked up an increase in heart rate or facial expressions suggestive of stress or frustration, it would tell management that he needed help.
Seriously, I would end up being one of those weirdos who goes on a rampage and spends the rest of his life living in the forest.