May 10, 2008
Well, it did…
Sometimes I worry the GOP will pull off a presidential win. Then stuff like this happens and realize my time would be better spent worrying giant radioactive cockroaches will take over the country* (via AssPress):
The man picked by the John McCain campaign to run the 2008 Republican National Convention resigned Saturday after a report that his lobbying firm used to represent the military regime in Myanmar.
Doug Goodyear resigned as convention coordinator and issued a two sentence statement:
“Today I offered the convention my resignation so as not to become a distraction in this campaign. I continue to strongly support John McCain for president, and wish him the best of luck in this campaign.”
Goodyear, chief executive of lobbying firm DCI Group, resigned a few hours after Newsweek posted a story posted online that the company was paid $348,000 in 2002 and 2003 to represent Myanmar’s junta.
I’m sure he would have ‘fessed up on his own if this story hadn’t come out. Just like Bob Allen was so forthcoming about his fondness for drinking protein shakes straight from the tap.
So what was Doug “Flat” Goodyear’s Mission for Burma?
Newsweek said the firm drafted news releases praising Burma’s efforts to curb the drug trade and denouncing claims by the Bush administration that the regime engaged in rape and other abuses [emphasis added].
Man, no wonder the GOPers are dead set against legalized prostitution. They don’t want the competition.
______
*Assuming I would notice.
Update: Could have sworn I hit Publish last night. You’re better off reading The Carpetbagger Report, especially if you have small children in the house.
May 10, 2008
Time for another dose of post hoc ergo what the fuck from bAdmin (via U.S. News & World Report):
Today the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy sent out a clear message on teen pot use and depression: They’re a bad combination. Issuing a report that analyzes around a dozen studies about marijuana use and mental health, the policy office warned that teens who use marijuana to “self-medicate” may worsen their underlying depression or other mental health issues.
But what do people who actually know what the hell they’re talking about have to say? In brief, “Dude, shut up”:
The report, entitled “Teen Marijuana Use Worsens Depression: An Analysis of Recent Data Shows ‘Self-Medicating’ Could Actually Make Thing Worse,” cites statistics to support its warning message, but experts are quick to note that it should be interpreted with caution. For example, the report’s statement, “One 16-year study showed that individuals who were not depressed and then used marijuana were four times more likely to be depressed at follow-up,” suggests marijuana might cause depression. That data from a 2001 study in the American Journal of Psychiatry was only statistically meaningful after the researchers adjusted for variables including age, gender, and antisocial symptoms, suggesting a weaker relationship between depression and marijuana before adjustments were made.
Here’s the thing. There’s a positive correlation between how much you have to play with your data and the likelihood that your data is crap. If you take that data and use it to prove anything, there’s a 100% chance that you’re a cretin. Even John Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy doesn’t catapult the propaganda with as much enthusiasm as is fitting for a full fledged BushBot:
“Adolescent marijuana use may be a factor that triggers psychosis, depression, and other mental illness,” says Walters, acknowledging that “research about causality is still ongoing.”
May? Ongoing? Tsk, tsk. But at least he threw the p-word in there to scare the shit out of everyone with visions of axe wielding teen skunkweed huffers roaming the streets.
Meanwhile, the Brits hate children:
“This very week the British government’s official scientific advisors on illegal drugs issued a report saying they are ‘unconvinced that there is a causal relationship between the use of cannabis and any affective disorder,’ such as depression.” [Bruce Mirken, director of communications at The Marijuana Project ] takes issue with the lack of warning about alcohol’s relationship to depression. “Data linking alcohol to depression is much stronger and alcohol use by teens is greater than marijuana use,” he notes.
O poo, you dirty hippy! I bet you objected to Joe Camel and Spuds MacKenzie.
May 8, 2008
FBI [enters and slaps an NSL on the desk]: Give us this information now or the terrists will win!
Librarian [calmly reads it and hands it back]: No.
FBI [bristles]: You’d better respect mah authority or you’ll be sorry and everyone will die and it’ll be really yucky!
Librarian [arching one eyebrow]: No. And keep your voices down you horrid little G-Men.
FBI [fidgets]: Well … never mind.
Librarian [speaking sharply]: Just a moment. Does this mean people won’t die if I don’t give you this information? were you perhaps, lying to me?
FBI: Uh, gotta go (via The Washington Post):
The FBI has withdrawn a secret administrative order seeking the name, address and online activity of a patron of the Internet Archive after the San Francisco-based digital library filed suit to block the action.
…
Every time an NSL has been challenged in court, the FBI has backed off, said Melissa Goodman, an ACLU staff attorney. “That calls into question how much the FBI needed the information in the first place, and finally, whether the FBI needs this kind of sweeping and unchecked surveillance power.”
Librarians: Protecting your liberties and collecting late fees.
May 8, 2008
Oh noes! The Chimperor is brandishing his vetotizing pen in one hand and a paw full of poo in the other (via The Washington Post):
“I will veto the bill that’s moving through the House today if it makes it to my desk, and I urge members on both sides of the aisle to focus on a good piece of legislation that is being sponsored by Republican members,” Bush told reporters.
He said his administration is “committed to a good housing bill that will help folks stay in their house, as opposed to a housing bill that will reward speculators and lenders.” The Republican alternative bill “will do the right thing for the American people when it comes to housing,” he said.
Without even looking at the bill I know that somewhere in there is a penalty or two for the FoC’s who got us into this mess.
But administration officials previously have voiced objections to the cost of a plan that would help distressed homeowners and have charged that it forces taxpayers to assume too much of the burden of risky home loans.
That’s right! Taxpayers should be forced to assume the burden of illegal invasions, wasteful contracts to benefit the FoC’s and bailouts of said FoC’s when they fuck up. How dare the DemoNcRats try to use tax money to benefit taxpayers. And taxpayers that don’t qualify for a thousand and one loopholes that result in the IRS bringing bars of gold to their doorstep no less, I feel faint with outrage!
What else did this drooling crap weasle whine about?
Bush said today that he and the House Republican leaders are also “deeply concerned about the high price of gasoline, which means that the United States Congress should not pass legislation that makes it harder to increase the supply of crude oil as well as increase the supply of gasoline.” He reiterated his call for construction of more oil refineries and for “environmentally friendly domestic exploration.” Bush has repeatedly complained that congressional Democrats have blocked drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Alaska.
Yeah. ‘Cos, y’see. You just gotta poke the ground with a stick and the oil will come a-gushin’ out. Like in Beverly Hillbillies.
Jesus Christ on a velicoraptor. I’d like to find fuckwit who came up with “Environmentally Friendly Oil Exploration,” and force him to explain exactly what that entails. All I will need is a jar of honey and some fire ants. Maybe a ball peen hammer. Don’t worry, I will be torturing subjecting this shithead to enhanced interrogation methods in order to protect America and the English language so it’s all good.
What the Chimperor won’t tell you is exploration in ANWR will likely cause the price of gas to go up. Getting the people and equipment up there won’t be cheap, neither will setting up and maintaining an operation in an less than friendly environment (heh). Expecting the oil companies to dip into their profits to fund their own boondoggle is like expecting a to find unicorns romping with the Easter Bunny in your backyard. Then, assuming there is enough oil under there to make further destruction, er, environmentally friendly extraction, worthwhile. that oil will go on the market where other countries, say for example China, will have the opportunity to bid. You remember China? The country that has our collective ‘nads on the anvil because someone borrowed a shit ton of money off them so he could freedomize the people of Iraq.
[Sigh] 256 days.
Hey America! Heh.
May 7, 2008
Things are getting a mite confused ’round here (via The Washington Post):
Nearly two dozen federal agents yesterday raided the Washington headquarters of the agency that protects government whistle-blowers, as part of an intensifying criminal investigation of its leader, who is fighting allegations of improper political bias and obstruction of justice.
Bu-but, he’s one of the Chimperor’s chosen men.
Agents fanned out yesterday morning in the agency’s building on M Street, where they sequestered Office of Special Counsel chief Scott J. Bloch for questioning, served grand-jury subpoenas on 17 employees and shut down access to computer networks in a search lasting more than five hours.
Maybe not:
A Kansas lawyer who previously worked at the Justice Department’s Task Force on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, Bloch repeatedly clashed with his own workforce and with other Bush administration officials he targeted for improper behavior. By his own account, the White House twice asked him to resign.
On the one hand, my immediate reaction to anyone who had anything to do with F-B initiatives is: Fuck you. My reaction to someone who pulled a stunt like this:
He drew fire quickly for removing from the OSC Web site references to the agency’s authority to hear complaints by federal employees who alleged discrimination based on their sexual orientation, said Debra S. Katz, a lawyer representing OSC whistle-blowers.
is fuck you with a rusty farm implement. Like a combine harvester. But if he’s not lying and the White House did want him out …
Well they gave Lurita Doan’t the boot and there’s no way in hell she didn’t deserve it … and the WH has never been shy about getting rid of people they didn’t want around. Never mind then. Let’s just hope he squeals like a pig.
Though I won’t be surprised if the “Seven Level Wipe” was spurred by an attempt to remove all traces of the hardcore MoM porn from his hard drive. Heh.
You gotta purty mouth, boy.
