Sheriff Joe: so consumed with pandering to bigots, he forgot to be a sheriff

McCain 'Outraged' By Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Sex Crimes Negligence | ThinkProgress

Higher education is a rip off

That's not to say your not better off without it. But just because its better to have a higher education than not is no defense of universities predatory practices, either. ANd it just so happens that law school - where they push ethics ethics ethics - is where the festering wound is most obvious.

Report Says Law Schools Reflect Wider Problems

Strangely, bankers never seem to fall through the cracks when it comes time for free money

http://www.law.com/jsp/nj/PubArticleNJ.jsp?id=1202536622067&et=editorial&bu=New%20Jersey%20Law%20Journal&cn=NJLJ%20Daily%20News%20Alert%3A%20December%2028%2C%202011&src=EMC-Email&pt=New%20Jersey%20Law%20Journal%20Daily%20News%20Alert&kw=NO%20RELIEF%20FOR%20HOMEOWNERS%20SHUT%20OUT%20BY%20REFINANCING%20OVERHAUL%20

Republican accomplishment: preventing predatory lenders from being prosecuted

"That was the CFPB in 2011: docile and crippled. But many Republicans in Congress remain convinced there's a wolf under those sheep's clothes, just waiting to tear out the throat of American businesses.

They've steadfastly blocked the nomination of former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the agency, and without a director, the CFPB's powers are severely limited. The agency can exercise the authority it inherited from seven other agencies, but it can't perform what is perhaps its most important new function under the Dodd-Frank Act: policing the murky world of nonbank lenders.

Instead, the CFPB in 2011 released reports, created task forces and made new, simplified forms for mortgage disclosures, credit cards and student financial aid. But it didn't bring a single enforcement action against a predatory lender."

http://www.law.com/jsp/nj/PubArticleNJ.jsp?id=1202536608348&et=editorial&bu=New%20Jersey%20Law%20Journal&cn=NJLJ%20Daily%20News%20Alert%3A%20December%2027%2C%202011&src=EMC-Email&pt=New%20Jersey%20Law%20Journal%20Daily%20News%20Alert&kw=ROCKY%20START%20FOR%20NEW%20FEDERAL%20CONSUMER%20AGENCY%20&slreturn=1

Interesting post on the science of making popular music

first, a great quote:

"pop music, while not necessarily devoid of substance, is something of an item where substance has little or no positive or negative value on its appeal."

Either way, a scientific formula for popularity doesn't scare me as a music fan. worst case scenario, the big labels and their affiliated vehicles (radio, tv, etc) become even more fearful of wasting airtime (or whatever) on music that falls outside their formulas. That hasn't stopped real rock & roll yet - because so long as there are people that want it raw, there will be those that serve it. Besides, a sonnet or a haiku are forms of poetry with strict format rules. Yet within those forms there are poems that accomplish the bare minimum and poems that knock your socks off. No matter how formulaic pop music becomes, there will always be the potential for somebody with true talent to use the formula to shine.

Researchers Claim to have Discovered the Secret of Successful Pop Music

Techrights group calls for Apple boycott - Android lawsuits show something's off | TechEye

Personally, I won't but Apple products for four reasons:

1. Apple is a corporate censor. We cherish First Amendment protections against government interference with speech. Unfortunately, too many of us - including the Supreme Court - define government as the institution we elect and pay taxes to, not the broader power structure. After all, if a group of government officials asked a company like Apple to censor an application and Apple obliged, its no less censorship - and Apple has "private" power as opposed to "public" power means there's nothing anyone can do about it. That's exactly what happened when a group of senators asked Apple, RIM (Blackberry), and Google (Android) to block an application that allowed citizens to share information about speed traps and DUI check points. Only Google said no.

And it doesn't stop there. Apple has censored games designed to make statements about immigration, applications focused on healthcare reform, and even wikileaks' application. Who cares if government is prohibited from engaging in censorship if the dominant means of communication are controlled by a small handful of like minded individuals willing to play the role of "private" censor.

2. Apple is a hypocritical bully. Apple didn't invent the personal computer, the mp3 player, or the smart phone. It simply branded those products and marketed them with a hearty dose of hipster snob appeal. Yet Apple uses dubious patent claims to stifle its competitors - often just teams of hackers working on a free and open project. Few can afford to take on Apple in an expensive lawsuit, so Apple wins just by being big - even if their patent claims are bogus. That's not just being a bully, its being a hypocritical bully.

3. Apple is over priced. This is true whether your purchasing a desktop, laptop, music player, or smart phone. Shop around. You can almost always get a non-Apple product of comparable build quality and superior specs for hundreds of dollars less than the Apple piece.

4. The Apple hipster snob cult is annoying. Remember back in the day when people would spend close to $100 on a pair of pants and more than $50 on a sweat shirt because they said "Z. Cavericci" or "IOU" They'd tell you they spent that money because the clothes were more comfortable - which was obvious bullshit. Then they'd look down their noses at - and sometimes outright ridicule- - the kids in the "K-Mart" clothes. I remember those people. They were huge assholes. The Apple crowd is a little more polite about it, and an adult's choice in computing equipment is rarely as divisive as the boundary lines that divide teenage fashion cliques - but at its core, Apple fan's attitudes about their hardware choices are similarly farcical and condescending. I don't want any part of that.

Techrights group calls for Apple boycott - Android lawsuits show something's off | TechEye

idiots are taking over everywhere

If it seems outrageous for mainstream politicians (especially in nations that wear a commitment to freedom and equality on their sleeves) to pander to right wing extremists that engage in direct harassment (and sometimes outright violence) of individuals - your not paying attention. Its the trend around the world. Even here, right wing politicians bend over backwards to appease the moral sensibilities of conservative moralists- while fighting against such things as expanding hate crime legislation to protect gays from deadly violence.

Israel's deepening religious divide - Inside Story - Al Jazeera English

and they call us the loony left

VIDEO: Glenn Beck “Shoot Them In The Head” Clip Found | The Political Carnival

justice for police misconduct: when the widow is lucky enough to get a settlement at tax payer expense

cops get called to take 62 year old man to hospital. instead, they tie him to a chair naked, gag him, and pepper spray him over and over until he goes into shock and dies. Coroner declares it a homicide. DA clears the department of all wrongdoing.

Photo shows pepper-sprayed prisoner

And they call us the loony left

"Hold It Up, I've Got To See That Gun": Eric Bolling's Bizarre Gun Antics | Media Matters for America

And when I was your age . . . .

we all feared the wrath of our parents, appreciated the little things, and walked through ten feet of snow to get to school. Please.

The New Internet Will Make You Sad Forever

Nice concise discussion of patriotism vs. spirituality discussed in a book review

First, a great quote

"The lack of tension between any particular Christian community and any particular political orientation should be taken as a dangerous sign of a potentially compromised witness."

and also

"I was reminded of the "redeemer nation" vs. "Redeemer's church" distinction last summer, as I attended an evangelical worship service with my family. The music morphed from a praise chorus to a patriotic anthem and back, complete with an American flag waving on the big screens. Having grown up in evangelical circles, this hardly fazed me, but my 11 year-old daughter shot me a confused look to signal that something had gone terribly awry in her view. Having grown up Catholic, she has no experience with a "redeemer nation." I will maintain that evangelicals have many things they can teach Catholics, but the more-than-occasional blending of patriotism and worship is not one of them."


Mirror of Justice: Unconservative evangelicals

A loss for freedom

Traditionally, the popular mind didn't think of patents and other forms of intellectual property as limitations on our freedom. Rather, people just thought of the patent as a reasonable vehicle to help an inventor reap the rewards of his ingenuity by preventing imitators from riding his coat tails. One of the reasons we thought of it this way was because most people weren't in a position to invent anything. Sure, we've all heard the stories of people coming up with novel devices that change our everyday lives and striking it rich, but for most of our lives the invention/patent game has been dominated by corporations. These corporations don't necessarily patent actual inventions - they often patent concepts. Then, when a competitor actually puts the idea into practice - not by copying, but through honest hard work - the patent holder uses the threat of costly patent litigation to to either freeze their competition out of the marketplace or extract a licensing fee as part of a settlement.

In the article linked below, we see Apple using patents and international law to freeze HTC Android phones out of the American market. I don't like the result - or software patents in general -but at least Apple versus HTC is a fair fight. Because HTC fought, it was able to prove that two of Apples patent claims were completely bogus.

People are starting to realize the ugliness of the world of patents because we're living in a time where anyone can develop a small but useful computer application. Small application developers receive threats of litigation all too often - with accusations that they've violated vague and dubious software patents. These small develops can't afford to fight the way HTC did, so they agree to pay a portion of their proceeds to the patent troll.

What if you developed a code that did something useful - not by copying, but by figuring it out yourself - and Apple sued you because they claimed one or two lines of the code violated the type of invalid patents HTC was able to beat? Could you afford to fight the way HTC did? It would cost a lot of money, time, and resources - likely far more than the profits from your application and almost certainly enough to prevent you from investing in a follow up application. So, more likely than not, you'd be bullied into either pulling your application from the market or paying Apple a tax.

Apple wins ban of HTC Android devices at US International Trade Commission | The Verge

fair game. i'd like to see it more fairly applied

Its totally appropriate to push Ron Paul on the racist newsletter issue. And if he doesn't like scrutiny, perhaps the presidency - or public service in general - isn't for him. Whether he wrote those newsletters or not, its reflective of his outreach efforts in an important period of his political career. and the letters aren't the only proof he pandered to racists as a younger man.

and you know what? i think its healthy for the Ron Paul cult to hear about his flaws - and even healthier for society at large to see how defensively the Ron Paul cult reacts to negative press. I like Ron Paul on foreign policy, I don't agree with him on domestic policy, but his rabid followers make me take his whole message less seriously.

however, people make mistakes and people change. believe me, i can appreciate that. its fair to explore the issue, but more productive to look at his consistency with his current platform - and whether that platform makes sense for America.

and i think its amazing that the mainstream media justifies resurrecting this old story because Paul has taken a lead while they buried Newt's past during his recent rise - and even gave credence to supportive urban legends. And Mittens has been given the easiest media pass since Obama. Mittens is the media anointed candidate that no Republican outside the power structure actually seems to like.

Maybe the bias has something to do with the media companies being subsidiaries of the war pig welfare queens that would lose big if we ever focused on building our nation instead of destroying others.

Ron Paul Storms Off CNN Set After Questioning Over Racist Newsletter - Yahoo! News

In my oppinion, a valid approach to child rearing

George Carlin -Question Everything - YouTube

Until literacy tests make a come back . . . .

GOP Voter Suppression Plan: Seven Tactics To Block Your Vote in 2012 | | AlterNet

You know they're being total idiots when . . . .

Republicans lose the Wall Street Journal on tax cut 'fiasco'

Two interesting passages from this mojo article

First, on the rich:

"Extravagant levels of consumption helped draw attention to them: private jets, multiple 50,000 square-foot mansions, $25,000 chocolate desserts embellished with gold dust. But as long as the middle class could still muster the credit for college tuition and occasional home improvements, it seemed churlish to complain. Then came the financial crash of 2007-08, followed by the Great Recession, and the 1 percent to whom we had entrusted our pensions, our economy, and our political system stood revealed as a band of feckless, greedy narcissists, and possibly sociopaths."

Then, on the rest of us:

"One reason the concept of an economic 99 percent first took root in America rather than, say, Ireland or Spain is that Americans are particularly vulnerable to economic dislocation. We have little in the way of a welfare state to stop a family or an individual in free-fall. Unemployment benefits do not last more than six months or a year, though in a recession they are sometimes extended by Congress. At present, even with such an extension, they reach only about half the jobless. Welfare was all but abolished 15 years ago, and health insurance has traditionally been linked to employment . . . Once an American starts to slip downward, a variety of forces kick in to help accelerate the slide"

The 1 Percent, Revealed | Mother Jones

bad logic

The God that loves us all damns non-believers to eternal torment for a mistake. Sounds contradictory, but the evangelical never found a logic problem that couldn't be circumvented with some fallacy. The non-believer spends their life denying God, so obviously the atheist would rather be in hell than at the side of a God he spent a life denying. See? So simple. It's all out of love.

God Sent Christopher Hitchens to Hell Because He Loved Him - Think Atheist

Another brain dead article with a headline written for the drudge report

For whatever reason, the Chevy Volt is associated with so-called environmentalist Democrats and Barrack Obama. It follows that conservatives hope it fails. This article's headline - "Volt goes flat in business and politics" - suggests there is something bad about the car's performance. And the article repeatedly echoes this suggestion by pointing out that (a) individuals aren't purchasing the car, and (b) politicians and businesses purchase it for PR as opposed to actual value. Yet there is absolutely nothing in the article that quantifies the suggestion,. Maybe the Volt is an under performing piece of garbage. Maybe not. Reading this article leads the reader to believe the former without actually knowing for sure or even having a basis for that view.

General Motors | Chevrolet Volt | Business | The Daily Caller

rich kids are cute

"In 2005, Highland Park High School students celebrating 'thug day' and 'fiesta day' came to class dressed in Afro wigs and traditional Mexican dresses stuffed with pillows. (The previous year, some had celebrated "trailer trash day" by dressing as their teachers.)"

Inside The 1 Percent's Texas Enclave | Mother Jones