Prometheus 6

Make sure you read stuff like this...not because I believe it's the way it will go down but because it the way a whole lot of progressives think it's going to go down.

This show was funny as hell to me. Later Colbert interviews Ron Paul and asks if government should have minded its own business when Hurricane Gustav hit. Paul said, well they already got your money, you might as well get something back, but in principle...and went on until he got to the part where the government takes your gun. Colbert is like, "What? You went out to shoot the flood, and they took your gun?"

Last week, Duff Wilson and Michael Schmidt of The Times reported that federal authorities are considering criminal charges against the wife and mother-in-law of Bonds’ former trainer, Greg Anderson, in an effort to pressure him to testify against Bonds. According to numerous accounts, it was Anderson who supplied Bonds with the drugs. “I’ve been an attorney for 32 years,” Charles J. Smith, the attorney for Anderson’s wife Nicole Gestas, told the Times. “I was a prosecutor for 10 years. But I have never heard anything like this ... It’s mean-spirited. It really is mean-spirited.”

Threatening family members is conduct worthy of the mafia, not the federal government, particularly in a case that is ultimately inconsequential beyond sensational headlines and another round of “I Hate Barry” frenzy. Protecting the sanctity of baseball? Protecting the sanctity of sports? It’s way too late for any of that self-righteous nonsense in SportsWorld.

Sympathy for the Slugger
By BUZZ BISSINGER

I don’t like Barry Bonds. I don’t like his insouciance and swagger and surliness, his general contempt for anybody who doesn’t share the familial intimacy of his last name. I prayed that he would not break the single-season record for home runs in 2001 with the San Francisco Giants, just as I also prayed that he would not break Hank Aaron’s record for most homers in the history of baseball last season. By the measures of grace and dignity, Aaron is all class and Bonds all trash.

But last week’s news trickling out of the endless investigation of Barry Bonds has caused me to feel something for him I never thought possible: sympathy. And beyond just sympathy, outrage over what has turned from a prosecution into a venomous persecution of someone who, no offense to the pastime purists, is just a baseball player. And I am beginning to think that federal authorities in charge of the pending criminal case against him for perjury have exactly the same attitude many sports fans do — we don’t like Barry Bonds, and since we don’t like him, let’s teach him a lesson he won’t forget. Let’s ruin him, which the federal government is fond of doing in all too many instances.

Rangel Failed to Report $75,000 in Income
By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI

Representative Charles B. Rangel has earned more than $75,000 in rental income from a villa he has owned in the Dominican Republic since 1988, but never reported it on his federal or state tax returns, according to a lawyer for the congressman and documents from the resort.

Mr. Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which writes the federal tax code, bought the beachfront villa at the Punta Cana Yacht Club and has received twice-yearly payments from the resort, which rents the property for $500 or more per night.

Records from the development, now called the Punta Cana Resort and Club, indicated that Mr. Rangel’s rental profits varied from year to year, from $2,700 in 2004 to $7,600 in 1994.

A lawyer for Mr. Rangel, Lanny Davis, said on Thursday that the congressman would most likely file amendments to his tax returns for the years in question.

Why the media should apologize
By: Roger Simon
September 4, 2008 05:36 PM EST

ST. PAUL, Minn. — On behalf of the media, I would like to say we are sorry.

On behalf of the elite media, I would like to say we are very sorry.

We have asked questions this week that we should never have asked.

We have asked pathetic questions like: Who is Sarah Palin? What is her record? Where does she stand on the issues? And is she is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency?

We have asked mean questions like: How well did John McCain know her before he selected her? How well did his campaign vet her? And was she his first choice?

Bad questions. Bad media. Bad.

It is not our job to ask questions. Or it shouldn’t be. To hear from the pols at the Republican National Convention this week, our job is to endorse and support the decisions of the pols.

Or a big, tricked out name tag.

Cindy McCain
Oscar de la Renta dress: $3,000 (That's 7.5 $400 haircuts!)
Chanel J12 White Ceramic Watch: $4,500 (That's 11.25 $400 haircuts!)
Three-carat diamond earrings: $280,000 (That's 700 $400 haircuts! Wow!)
Four-strand pearl necklace: $11,000–$25,000 (That's 27.5-62.5 $400 haircuts!)
Shoes, designer unknown: $600 (That's 1.5 $400 haircuts!)
Total: Between $299,100 and $313,100

Wow! No wonder McCain has so many houses: his wife has the price of a Scottsdale split-level hanging from her ears.

I can think os so many ways to frustrate the very attempt...like walking with someone close enough that your shadows overlap. Or on a crowded street. Or on irregular ground.

Shadow analysis could spot terrorists by their walk
04 September 2008
From New Scientist Print Edition.

Nearly seven years after Osama Bin Laden disappeared, US intelligence agencies are still chasing his shadow. And shadows are precisely what they should be looking for, says NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

By analysing the movements of human shadows in aerial and satellite footage, JPL engineer Adrian Stoica says it should be possible to identify people from the way they walk - a technique called gait analysis, whose power lies in the fact that a person's walking style is very hard to disguise.

This is more accurate than this.

I had a similar issue when I coined the term "Black partisan."

I am a Black partisan--one of those people that actively choose to accept racial kinship. My position is simple and straightforward-every event that affects Black people affects me. Therefore there is a connection between myself and other Black people that I must respond to in some fashion. What the mainstream thinks of Black people in general becomes my starting point in any new situation. My feelings of kinship with Black folks represents my recognition that my fate is linked to that of everyone else of visible African descent and my feelings of loyalty represents my recognition that the fate of everyone else of visible African descent is linked to mine.

Darkstar wrote this thing

I'm Black and I'm A Republican

I was going respond to his assessment of how Black Republicans can get a little more respect by giving a little more respect, but MIB really boiled it down in his comment.

It's a free country.

However, I don't feel your position, like those of many self-identified Black Republicans, is any more substantive or plausible. You're just not as much of an a**hole about things.

Here's my view on this party thing. To be a member, you have to honor the principles of the party as truths. That's the true ones, the dramatizations and the lies. I don't keep the lies because I can't afford to, and prefer not to expend unnecessary energy on dramatizations. That means I'm not really a Democrat, identity-wise. And it's why I don't think Darkstar is a Republican any more than I'm a Democrat. After all, you don't have to be a Republican to be incorrect...

via Darkstar

Palin Family Values: Thoughts From A Confused Conservative

This is a strange time to be a Republican. Am I just supposed to be cool with all this? Should I now recalibrate my family values to adjust for this unfortunate mess? Is teen pregnancy now just a sign of “An American Family?” Is the desire to secede from the United States now a sign of patriotism? What the hell is going on here?

First of all, I don’t want to hear from anyone that “Sarah Palin’s family should be off limits”. This isn’t about Bristol Palin or Trig Palin or Earwax Palin or Mack Truck or whatever the hell the other ones are called. This is about the judgement, the beliefs and the managerial style of the woman who could be President of the United States. I see no reason to be polite. I think Palin’s decision to drag her daughter’s teen pregnancy into the international spotlight is not just ill-considered, it is morally bankrupt.

You, sir, are confused for the same reason progressives don't understand the problem Republicans have with community organizers...or didn't understand before I explained it.

Afro-Netizen posted up this Young Turks vs. Young Turkeys clip. Conversation took place at the RNC.

I was amused enough until Shay asked, "If Black people don't care about Black people, why should President Bush care about Black people?" Talk about your self-referential questions...

Damn shame...the camera focus wasn't the best but she seems lime one of those folks who are cute until they talk.

After not just calling Obama uppity but repeating the term when asked ifhe was sure that's the word he wanted to use...

"Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they're a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they're uppity," Westmoreland said.

Asked to clarify that he used the word “uppity,” Westmoreland said, “Uppity, yeah.” 

Westmoreland's staff said he is the only Georgian alive that didn't know it was a slur.

Instead, she offered one message: Here's who I am. Career woman, mother (specifically, lipstick-wearing hockey mom), loving wife, avid hunter, caring daughter, fierce fighter, product of her own spunk and determination. After the speech, Republican strategists were rapturous over her potential appeal to female voters who perform similar feats of multitasking every day without complaint or recognition. 

The Other Party's Playbook
By Eugene Robinson
Friday, September 5, 2008; A21

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Talk about role reversal. The Republican Party, which scoffs at the nonsense of "identity politics," has staked everything on the compelling life stories of its presidential and vice presidential candidates. The Democratic Party, ever conscious of the diversity of modern America, is doing everything it can to blur the lines of race, class and gender.

As if anyone thought otherwise, it is going to be an interesting few weeks until Nov. 4.

Mr. Obama is known for the subtlety and nuance of his answers; Mr. O’Reilly has no patience for either. And accordingly, they had a bracing exchange, in what was the first of four segments to be spread over four days.

Y'all know what I think. Now, let me rinse the vomit from the back of my mouth and forget...but there's three more days of it, I can't forget yet.

Judith Warner has had eeee-nuff of Gov. Sarah already.

Why does this woman – who to some of us seems as fake as they can come, with her delicate infant son hauled out night after night under the klieg lights and her pregnant teenage daughter shamelessly instrumentalized for political purposes — deserve, to a unique extent among political women, to rank as so “real”?

The Party of the Neo-Confederates has been tossing about the term "community organizer" with disdain. Some of y'all, especially those community organizers among you, have noted the absurdity of hating on people whose job it is to help people.

Ah, but that because you've been fooled again by the fact that Neo-Confederate English uses the same sounds as Standard English while assigning them wholly different meanings. It's like the phonic version of written Chinese.

In this case, what you think means "someone whose job it is to help people" means, to them, "outside agitator."

Westmoreland calls Obama ‘uppity'
By Mike Soraghan
Posted: 09/04/08 03:07 PM [ET]
Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland used the racially-tinged term "uppity" to describe Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Thursday.
 
Westmoreland was discussing vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's speech with reporters outside the House chamber and was asked to compare her with Michelle Obama.
 
"Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they're a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they're uppity," Westmoreland said.

Asked to clarify that he used the word “uppity,” Westmoreland said, “Uppity, yeah.” 

About Sarah Palin: A Letter From Anne Kilkenny
By admin on Sep 3, 2008 in John McCain

What follows is an open letter written by a resident of Wasilla, Alaska named Anne Kikenny.

I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child’s favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.

She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won’t vote for her can’t quit smiling when talking about her because she is a “babe”.

Republicans are undefining words so fast, we'll actually have no way to say anything to anyone if they have their way.

Terrorism charges filed in alleged plot to disrupt GOP convention
Eight suspects are accused of planning violent acts to block Republican delegates.
By P.J. Huffstutter
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 4, 2008

ST. PAUL, MINN. — As clashes between police and protesters subsided outside the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, county prosecutors charged eight people with conspiring to cause a riot as part of a terrorist act.

The eight suspects were arrested in connection with raids of homes in the Twin Cities that were conducted by the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department before the convention began.

The charges are highly unusual because of the terrorism aspect. Ramsey County Atty. Susan Gaertner said she could recall no such case in her 24 years with the prosecutor's office.

Mayor: 'I lied under oath'
He'll resign, serve 120 days in jail, pay $1M restitution
BY M.L. ELRICK, JIM SCHAEFER, JOE SWICKARD and BEN SCHMITT • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
September 4, 2008

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who will lose his job because he lied while under oath at a police whistle-blower trial, has just pledged to tell the truth as he prepares to admit his guilt as part of a plea deal he just struck with the Wayne County Prosecutor.

The deal calls for Kilpatrick to plead guilty to two felony counts of obstruction of justice by committing perjury, agreeing to serve four months in jail, pay up to $1 million in restitution, and serve five years' probation. He also agreed not to run for office during that five-year span.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Toward the end of Sarah Palin’s pugnacious nomination speech tonight, Republican National Convention officials clashed with one of the party’s faithful on the packed hall’s jammed floor.

Several convention “volunteers” blocked at least three elderly Republicans from leaving the floor of the hall to use restrooms – but threatened to arrest one of the few African-American delegates, who also happens to be a retired cop.

“You can’t come through here. We apologize for the inconvenience,” one stocky volunteer repeatedly told those trying to exit through a tunnel near the VIP seats during Palin’s long speech.

But Krim Ballentine, an elderly at-large delegate from the U.S. Virgin Islands and retired chief deputy U.S. marshal, really had to go.

“You better let me through or I’m gonna wet myself like a baby,” Ballentine said.

The convention heavies wouldn’t budge.