- It just had to happen eventually, didn’t it? Ron Paul action figures. I like the man. But seriously, I agree with Joel. It’s getting a little nuts. Okay, maybe the superhero action figure is sorta funny. But since when do free people set up idols to worship?
- The dog: man’s best friend for more than 33,000 years.
- If this is a “minor infraction” I’d hate to see what serious violence is. But of course, if the cop loses his job over this, some other PD will consider him prime material for their wrong-house-
puppykittyciding-drug-raiding SWAT team. (Tip o’ hat to C^2.) - I am unacquainted with the art of Mr. Rhymes and know his name only because I love to read about celebrities, even if (and sometimes because) I’ve never heard of them. But he’s dead-bang right about the Megaupload bust.
- Why is it that they take our freedom in big gobbling gulps, then dole it back in such tiny, wimpy doses? Hey, Indiana: Free people have a right to resist the state and all its agents — particularly those who come storming in unannounced. Period. Without a lot of ifs, ands, and butts.
- Speaking of which …
- Oh yeah. Remember what was left of the Fifth Amendment once the NDAA got through with it? You can forget about that now.
Finally — marketing for the (very!) soon-to-be-released Hunger Games is getting fiendishly (and I mean that literally) clever. Lionsgate has now opened CapitalCouture.pn — a site that “celebrates” the style and fashion of the games.
If you don’t yet know The Hunger Games trilogy don’t be offput by the shallow, fashion-obsessed site. That’s the point of the thing. In the books (and the looks-to-be-fantastic movies being made from them), hapless teens from outlying districts are forced to fight to the death in an annual display of subjugation to the all-powerful state of Panem (thus the .pn in the URL, though in reality that belongs to Pitcairn Island). The games are orchestrated in Panem’s capital city, a vision of future decadence based on Rome of empire days.
Costumes are hugely important to the games (and become inadvertently vital to the success and survival of Our Heroine, Katniss Everdeen). So I think this is a darned clever way of showcasing them and hyping the movie. Even if it is shallow, ugly, and grotesque — just like Panem, the capital, and the games.
The Ron Paul supporters might make more money for their cause by selling “action figures” based on other puppeticians and authoricrats. I’d buy a highly-flammable/explosive “Shire Reave” Joe Arpiao doll to shoot at, or an Obama or Newt doll that melts in the microwave, leaving behind a twisted skeleton as the flesh drips away. They are missing a big market there.
If I had more money to spend on silly stuff I’d buy a few of the Ron Paul figures. They’d make great gag gifts for the proper people. My local bookstore has a selection of action figures of great composers and other long departed famous. The suit fits him so badly I wonder if this was a sudden production run instead of a more buffed celebrity.
As far as the cop beating a kitten to death – steroid abuse is not good. I doubt if telling children in that neighborhood that ‘The police are your friend’ will work anymore.
Back in a “former life” I was associated with the music business, this fight doesn’t come from the artists – it comes from the corporations holding the monopoly on the business…..Mega was a way for artists to actually make some money, rather than make money for some record label…..and of course the record weasels can’t have that happen….Every attempt that the artists have tried to implement to replace the outdated and completely unbalanced way of doing music business has consistently been thwarted by the corporations (and hence their puppets in congress)…..
The best way to drive the point home was a recent list on here: http://www.politicolnews.com/congressmen-who-received-money-for-sopa-vote/
If they had that much money to burn on politicians then they should have been sending it to the artists instead of lawmakers….
The music industry is and has been broken for a long time, and really needs to be revamped with a better model….and the artists who sign (standard) contracts with them are equally as guilty of perpetuating the broken model, too…..
Regarding the “Fifth Amendment” link:
http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/?s=plausible-deniability
(“Of course, I’ll share my password with you, your Honor. Sorry, all I have in there are some old financial records and the vet bill from the time they lanced the boil on my cat’s ass. Never could get that encryption thing to work right anyway, so I gave up on it… “)
Clueless idjits.
This whole “Constitutional Rights” thing has been on a a strict downhill slide since 1787 and I see no reason to think it’s going to turn around anytime soon. The Bill of Rights may as well have been written on toilet paper, at least since Wilson and probably Lincoln.
While the prosecutors are are arguing infinitessimals and strained abstractions and are obfuscating the issue with words I believe they have completely trampeled the first principle of privacy and the fifth amendment. If I may strain my own abstraction here they may as well just waterboard her till she admits guilt.
“Regarding the “Fifth Amendment” link:
http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/?s=plausible-deniability
(“Of course, I’ll share my password with you, your Honor. Sorry, all I have in there are some old financial records and the vet bill from the time they lanced the boil on my cat’s ass. Never could get that encryption thing to work right anyway, so I gave up on it… “)
Clueless idjits.”
I couldn’t agree more. I forgot my password. I lost my password. etc. Plus let us not forget the using True Crypt you can create hidden volumes inside other encrypted volumes. Put the good stuff in the hidden volume and some worthless stuff in the volume that you are being forced to decrypt. “See your honor I told you there was nothing in here accept some old invoices from my vet”.
Wow, yeah the quote in Joel’s blog was pretty gushy. I like Ron Paul a lot but that’s a little much. He is, after all, just a man. A smart, principled man who I support, but a man nonetheless.
That said, the action figure idea brought a smile to my face. I’d probably buy one of those for the sheer novelty if they weren’t $100.
Ron Paul “action” figures These are not idols to worship. These are action figures where people practice being Ron Paul. Ron Paul tap tap taps over to a Obama/Newt/Romney action figure and says “end the fed” 99guspuppet
Suffering cats If the cat looked terminal and it was suffering …. I would terminate it as quickly as possible. A cat is not at the same level as a human. I would have to know more about what the officer was trying to do. And I am not impressed with the requirement to get permission from a supervisor. What is that all about ????? 99guspuppet
“claiming the cat had been hit by a car, reportedly struck the animal up to twenty times with his baton.”
Sheer stupidity and certainly did not quickly end the poor animal’s suffering! He probably would have taken flack pretty much no matter what he did. If he’d shot it, that would be overkill and potentially dangerous to bystanders. If he’d done nothing, he’d have been vilified just as much. Maybe he was actually a nice and compassionate guy, who knows, but he made the wrong choice in this case.
He’d have been much smarter to call animal control and let them deal with it. And yes, being required to “mother may I” from a supervisor is pretty silly. If he’s going to carry a gun, he’d better damned well know when to use it or not without someone second guessing him.
Yep, I can’t imagine any circumstance under which bashing an injured cat 20 times with a club could be the quickest and most merciful way of putting it out of its misery.
And although none of us were there to gauge the cat’s injuries and the policeman was — what kind of expert was he? Our rescue group (which is hardly big or rich as rescue groups go) has a special fund for treating sick or injured strays; except in extreme and obvious circumstances, the vet makes the decision whether an injured animal of unknown origins gets put down.
Hah! Lanny Breuer… isn’t he in enough trouble with Fast and Furious? He needs to be working against another of the Bill of Rights too? department of “justice” indeed.
“Because this involves a Fifth Amendment claim, Colorado prosecutors took the unusual step of seeking approval from headquarters in Washington, D.C.: On May 5, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer sent a letter to Colorado U.S. Attorney John Walsh saying “I hereby approve your request.”