fuddmain

Texas school district to let teachers carry guns | Reuters

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 23:28:44 -0400

Texas school district to let teachers carry guns | Reuters:

dalasverdugo:

SO SMART!

What’s wrong with allowing teachers to exercise their second ammendment right? Perhaps if schools in general weren’t such bastions of liberalism and pansiness, someone who was legally carrying their personal firearm for just such an occasion would have stopped Virgina Tech from being so horrific. Believe it or not, there are responsible human beings out there.

Responsible and knowing how to handle yourself in a firefight are two entirely different things. And, there’s absolutely no reason to believe students carrying guns would have stopped the Tech massacre. It’s possible, but it’s also equally possible there would have been more deaths. Not to mention the strain that would put on police trying to figure which student with a gun was the killer.

McCain: "In The 21st Century Nations Don't Invade Other Nations"

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:16:28 -0400

McCain: "In The 21st Century Nations Don't Invade Other Nations": I nearly spit coffee everywhere when I saw that. Would have been a shame too, because my Chemex coffeemaker brews a fine cup.

"Oh, sure, it’s athletics; the Olympics showcase the sometimes terrifying capabilities of the human..."

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:26:47 -0400

“

Oh, sure, it’s athletics; the Olympics showcase the sometimes terrifying capabilities of the human body. But the Olympics are full of weird sports we’d never even notice otherwise. And being a hard-core sports fan is about being an obsessive. Following a sport year-round, and not just ducking your head in once every four years, is the whole point.

The Olympics fly in the face of that, which is probably why so many casual fans are watching them and enjoying them. Unfortunately, casual fans think that because I’m a sports fan, I’m somehow as into the Olympics as I’m into the Cardinals, or my fantasy football team. (As if being a sports fan is simply a matter of enjoying things that are scored.) The Olympics are for people who like reality television, individual, easily resolved, simple disposable dramas that are forgotten in a matter of days. They are not for sports fans.

Sports fans enjoy history, enjoy context, enjoy the alternating joy and pain that come with following a team/player/franchise for decades on end. We are either rewarded for that devotion (Red Sox fans) or punished for it (Browns fans, Cubs fans — let’s hope). But it’s something we carry around with us every day, and always will, for the rest of our lives. After the Olympics are over, you’ll never think of Michael Phelps again. I’m gonna be stuck with my Arizona Cardinals forever.

”

- Leitch: Why the Olympics Are the Reality TV of Sports — New York Magazine (via peterwknox)

Leitch doesn’t seem like much of a sports fan to me. Sounds like he watches it, but doesn’t know what it takes to do it.

"I don’t know if you know this. John McCain is looking for someone for vice president who has..."

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:25:15 -0400

“I don’t know if you know this. John McCain is looking for someone for vice president who has more economic expertise than he does. So congratulations to all of you, you’re on the short list.”

- John Kerry

(Via Andrew Sullivan)

World’s tiniest snake found in Barbados

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:37:11 -0400

World’s tiniest snake found in Barbados

"But anyone who’s studied McCain’s career with any intellectual detachment at all (as opposed to the..."

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:52:50 -0400

“But anyone who’s studied McCain’s career with any intellectual detachment at all (as opposed to the hagiographic tendencies of his media cheerleading claque) could have told you: The truth about John McCain is that he’ll do just about anything and say just about anything to win. He always has. He’s just been more clever (and cynical) than most in how he goes about it.”

- billmon

The November Blog (h/t Noah)

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:20:39 -0400

The November Blog (h/t Noah)

"If the job gets done, and your nose is close to its original shape, you call it a good day’s..."

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:52:46 -0400

“If the job gets done, and your nose is close to its original shape, you call it a good day’s work.”

- Black Jack Justice

John McCain’s Neverending War - The Jed Report

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:19:54 -0400

John McCain’s Neverending War - The Jed Report

Slumber My Darling - Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Mark O’Connor...

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:58:00 -0400

Slumber My Darling - Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Mark O’Connor with Alison Krauss

This is from Appalachian Journey by Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Mark O’Connor. That along with Appalachia Waltz are two of my favorite albums.

My God can Krauss sing.

Rush on The Colbert Report I particularly liked this...

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:33:00 -0400

Rush on The Colbert Report

I particularly liked this question:

You are yet to be inducted in the The Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame. Is there any chance your next album will be called That’s Bullshit?

Dinosaurs and Robots: Enertia Electric Motorcycle

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:35:12 -0400

Dinosaurs and Robots: Enertia Electric Motorcycle

"I think the American people have had enough of stubbornness and inflexibility in national security..."

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:49:15 -0400

“I think the American people have had enough of stubbornness and inflexibility in national security policy”

- Randy Scheunemann, McCain adviser and neocon, describing Obama as stubborn as George W. Bush on Iraq. Looks like the McCain campaign has flip-flopped on it’s attack strategy. Last week they were saying Obama was a flip-flopper on Iraq.
(via election08)

A little background on Randy Scheunemann from Josh Marshall:

Scheunemann was a core participant in the lobbying, plotting and organized campaigns of deception that led America to war in Iraq. He was a close collaborator with Ahmad Chalabi through the 1990s. He helped draft the Iraq Liberation Act, which created the new funding stream for Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress. At the start of the Bush administration he signed on as Don Rumsfeld’s ‘consultant’ on Iraq at the Pentagon. And then when the administration started cranking up the machinery for the propaganda campaign in favor of war he went back on the outside to form and lead the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, to lead the press and lobbying campaign to make sure the war got started on schedule.

Remember, US intelligence later found evidence that Chalabi, in addition to foisting a bunch of bogus intelligence and lying informers on the US and pocketing a lot of US taxpayer dollars, had provided highly classified US intelligence to Iran. Scheunemann worked closely with Chalabi for years in his efforts to get the US into war with Iraq. He was also a go-between between Chalabi and McCain. Now that he’s taking such a high-profile role on the Iraq issue in the 2008, Scheunemann’s history with Chalabi and the use of bogus intelligence to get the nation into war is unquestionably highly newsworthy.

iPod Hard Drive Repair | iPodCorrectors

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:42:31 -0400

iPod Hard Drive Repair | iPodCorrectors: Anybody have experience with these people? They claim to repair iPod hard drives for $19.95. The sad iPod icon has returned and percussive maintainance no longer works. I need my iPod to last until I can get an iPhone, which won’t happen until the iPhone has at least 32 GB of memory.

"As for offshore drilling, it’s safe enough these days that not even Hurricanes Katrina and Rita..."

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:47:39 -0400

“As for offshore drilling, it’s safe enough these days that not even Hurricanes Katrina and Rita could cause significant spillage from the battered rigs off the coasts of New Orleans and Houston.”

- John McCain

This has been repeated by a number of conservatives. Shockingly, it’s also a steaming pile of horseshit. From the Houston Chronicle:

The quantity and cumulative magnitude of the 595 spills, which were spread across four states and struck offshore and inland, rank these two hurricanes among the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history. Some have even compared the total amount of oil released — estimated at 9 million gallons — to the tragedy of Exxon Valdez.

Here’s a satellite photo of the Katrina oil slicks: Skytruth.

But remember kids, the most important thing is figuring out if Obama is a muslim.

"Things have deteriorated to the point where staffers at People are mystified by the inanity of the..."

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:22:06 -0400

“Things have deteriorated to the point where staffers at People are mystified by the inanity of the political press corps.”

- Bob Somerby (The Daily Howler)

(via Rumproast) Learn to use a computer. Bwahahahaha!

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:16:49 -0400

(via Rumproast)

Learn to use a computer. Bwahahahaha!

"I was concerned about a couple of steps that the Russian government took in the last several days...."

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:11:13 -0400

“I was concerned about a couple of steps that the Russian government took in the last several days. One was reducing the energy supplies to Czechoslovakia.”

- John McCain, earlier today, once again defending Czechoslovakia. I’m linking to the Wikipedia article on Czechoslovakia because some of the younger readers might not have been born when Czechoslovakia ceased to exist in 1992. Now, we already know McCain wants to drill in ANWR for the “psychological impact” it would have. I think I can connect the dots. He can send all the nonexistant benefits from his increased drilling and irresponsible gas tax holiday to all our nonexistant allies. Then they will elect him the Prettiest Princess in Imaginary Land! (via squashed)

Steve Benen comments:

“But the raison d’etre of John McCain’s entire presidential campaign is the notion that he’s an expert on foreign policy, thanks to his decades of experience as a Washington insider. When the foreign policy expert keeps referencing a non-existent country, it’s not unreasonable to mention that maybe his expertise isn’t quite as impressive as his campaign and the political media establishment would like us to believe.”

Steve also states, “McCain has actually been to the Czech Republic and Slovakia since they became independent countries, and he’s met with their leaders.”

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2008-7-13)

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:53:51 -0400

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2008-7-13):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

From the aforementioned Usagi Yojimbo.

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:20:04 -0400

From the aforementioned Usagi Yojimbo.