OK, here's a thought: Why not sign up for an idiot badge?

Or, better yet (you might want to make a note of this, Bunky), do not start a major system install when running on battery power. That is a really, really stupid thing to do.

Here's a good idea

Let's call it something else!

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A spate of recent attacks in Iraq's volatile Diyala province indicate a change in tactics by al Qaeda rather than an upsurge in violence, the commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq said on Saturday.

(Reuters)

There ya' go. See how easy?

Yeah dagnabbit...

...them thar Yankees is a bunch o' moroons, is whut they are.

"I can understand a lot of it in the South. People in the South want to know someone understands SEC (Southeastern Conference) football and knows what WD-40 and duct tape will do," Huckabee said. "But from the rest of the country — even if they don't know what duct tape and WD-40 will do — they certainly do know they want a president who has had a struggle, who has not just had life handed to him."

(AP News via Raw Story)

Thousands...

...more than 12,000, in fact, old time radio programs available from the Old Time Radio Network (all in Real Audio, alas, but still...) added to the official work avoidance list. Just mentioning.

You vote, they decide

In California...

The first round of tests focused on the physical security of the Polling Ballot Counter (PBC), which the Red Team researchers were able to circumvent with little effort. "In the physical security testing, the wire- and tamper-proof paper seals were easily removed without damage to the seals using simple household chemicals and tools and could be replaced without detection," the report says. "Once the seals are bypassed, simple tools or easy modifications to simple tools could be used to access the computer and its components. The key lock for the Transfer Device was unlocked using a common office item without the special 'key' and the seal removed."

(Ars Technica, thanks to a tip from Avedon)

And after they popped the lock it was all downhill.

It's "London Derrière"

See? I knew that one. It was a quiz on NPR and I knew the answer because my mother made me take violin lessons. Some people think it's "Danny Boy" but it isn't, it's "London Derrière."

If your life is not...consistent...with...

"It has nothing to do with what faith a person has — it's whether or not that person's life is consistent with how he lives it," Huckabee said Thursday on NBC's "Today."

(AP via Raw Story)

What is this, National Babble Day?

And how's this? Double babble!

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, also used the occasion to sound a call for greater religious thought in daily civic life, providing a near-history lesson as he recalled religion in American political life since the country's founding.

"The founders proscribed the establishment of a state religion, but they did not countenance the elimination of religion from the public square," he said.

Way to go, AP! Let's hear it for near history!

Are US taxpayers arming insurgents?

Tractor trailers, tank recovery vehicles, crates of machine guns and rocket propelled grenades are just a sampling of more than $1 billion in unaccounted for military equipment and services provided to the Iraqi security forces, according to a new report issued today by the Pentagon Inspector General and obtained exclusively by the CBS News investigative unit. Auditors for the Inspector General reviewed equipment contracts totaling $643 million but could only find an audit trail for $83 million.

(CBS News)

Invade Dubuque!

It's official: The world's gone bonkers, no joke

I walk into the Post Office at 1:00 PM with an armload of quacking packages, 'Pod cranked up and plugged in, a little bag of cheese crackers in my pocket, set to wait it out for as long as it takes and there is no line. Not only is there no line, there is a guy standing behind the counter just waiting. Whoa. Name one other Century when that's happened, right? So I figure that deserves a celebration and I head for the drive-thru line, figuring I'll treat myself to a little bag of fries. Too.

And there's a sign there, says "Gift an Arch card." Huh? What, is this some sort of charity for homeless Arch cards or something? Are there homeless Arch cards? Like, orphans or something? Or do they mean give an Arch card? I have no idea. But at least I've got my fries, so there's hope.

Then I pull up to that 4-way stop, you know, the one over there - it's been there for about eight years now and people are still trying to figure out how it works - and some geezer pulls into the intersection from my right and does a complete 360º freakin' U in the intersection and drives out the way he came. Whaaaaaat? I'm just sitting there, blinking my eyes.

When I get home I have only one earbud in, the other one hanging down inside my jacket, and when I take it off, the jacket, it generates some static or something and I get a little snappy spark in my ear. Woohoo! Sexiest thing that's happened in a decade. Or so. I'm sitting here trying to make it happen again.

When I read Vice Darth, Trickshot Dick, is claiming Reps. Dingell and Murtha have small sticks.

See what I mean? No joke.

Multiple Choice Mitt goes for the JFK

"Religious tolerance would be a shallow principle indeed if it were reserved only for faiths with which we agree."

(Romney, as quoted by AP)

Except - I'm just guessing here, but still - those freakin' Muslims, right? And Pastafarians. Mitt wants "nativity scenes" and menorahs in public places, but doesn't say a word about noodles. Or, for that matter, the Constitution.

Yipping about Mormons is just as stupid now as yapping about Catholics was in the 60s but hey, we might as well have stupid in public places too, right next to trees of knowledge.

We love the smell of a smoking gun in the morning

Dan Bartlett, recently departed White House guy, discussing right-wing blogs in an interview with Texas Monthly:

I mean, talk about a direct IV into the vein of your support. It’s a very efficient way to communicate. They regurgitate exactly and put up on their blogs what you said to them. It is something that we’ve cultivated and have really tried to put quite a bit of focus on.

OK, who didn't say no?

The nation's teen birth rate has risen for the first time in 14 years, according to a new government report.

The birth rate had been dropping since 1991. The decline had slowed in recent years, but government statisticians said Wednesday it jumped 3 percent from 2005 to 2006.

(AP Features)

Aha! I get it now!

He said that if the new information turns out to be true, what we thought we knew for sure is right. Iran does in fact have a covert nuclear weapons program, but it may be suspended.

It's there but it's suspended. Sorta like not there. But there. But not exactly.

No. Guess not. I still don't get it. But maybe you can figure it out.

Tubthumping!

NEW YORK (December 04, 2007) -- Press reports so far have suggested that the belated release of the National Intelligence Estimate yesterday throwing cold water on oft-repeated claims of a rampant Iranian nuclear weapons program has deeply embarrassed, or at least chastened, public officials and policymakers who have promoted this line for years. Gaining little attention so far: Many in the media have made these same claims, often extravagantly, which promoted (deliberately or not) the tubthumping for striking Iran.

(Editor & Publisher)

How about stand sorta sidewise

Yesterday, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said, “when the President was told that we had some additional information, he was basically told: stand down; needs to be evaluated; we’ll come to you and tell you what we think it means.” Later in the briefing, Hadley reversed course and said, “In terms of stand down, they did not tell the President to stand down and stop talking about Iran’s nuclear program.”

(ThinkProgress)

And it gets worse from there.

Maybe Rove didn't retire after all

Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign is today accusing Sen. Barack Obama's campaign of conducting dirty tricks in Iowa and New Hampshire.

The Clinton campaign is pointing supporters and journalists to reports of push polls in Iowa and New Hampshire which, the Clinton people say, are passing along negative information about Clinton.

They're blaming the Obama campaign.

(The Swamp)

Obama campaign calls Clinton charge a "flat-out falsehood."

Why should the Rs be the only dips in town?

Mouse and friends scoff at summons

Your honor, I thought I saw a pussycat! Tweety may finally air his signature complaint in front of a judge, after an Italian court ordered the animated canary along with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and his girlfriend Daisy to take the witness stand in a counterfeiting case....

"Unfortunately they cannot show up, as they are residents of Disneyland," [a Disney mouthpiece] joked in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

(AP via Raw Story)

Oh, Babe, this is a work of freakin' art

From this Norman Podhoretz guy, who is some kind of "advisor" to Rudy (and that should tell you something right there) comes this, in some magazine called Commentary Magazine...

...the intelligence community, which has for some years now been leaking material calculated to undermine George W. Bush....

Like, I don't know, the truth, maybe? The actual freakin' facts? That'd pretty much undermine George W. Bush alright, right there.

How long must we suffer these fools?

So be scared anyway!

A new US intelligence report indicates that Iran halted its nuclear weapons development program four years ago -- but the White House on Monday nevertheless urged global powers to "turn up the pressure" on the country.

Newly declassified portions of the National Intelligence Estimate find that Iran abandoned its nuclear program in the fall of 2003 and does not currently possess a nuclear weapon. The country is still enriching uranium, however, and could still develop a weapon between 2010 and 2015, according to senior intelligence officials.

(Raw Story)

Yeah, it did.

Snow

Not a lot, but wet. Icy, during the night. South of us, icy enough to close the Interstate. Right where I need to go in the morning, in fact, so I hope it's melted off by now. If it doesn't snow too much more tonight (yeah, forecast) it just might melt off again by the weekend. Or it might be there all winter. Bleh.

Security

But throughout history and into the future, the one constant is human nature. There hasn't been a new crime invented in millennia. Fraud, theft, impersonation and counterfeiting are perennial problems that have been around since the beginning of society. During the last 10 years, these crimes have migrated into cyberspace, and over the next 10, they will migrate into whatever computing, communications and commerce platforms we're using.

(Schneier on Security)

An interesting discussion (if you're interested) between Bruce Schneier and Marcus Ranum on computer security, on Schneier's blog.

Outlaw Nation

GUARDIAN, UK - International lawyers and anti-war campaigners reacted with astonishment after the influential Pentagon hawk Richard Perle conceded that the invasion of Iraq had been illegal. In a startling break with the official White House and Downing Street lines, Mr Perle told an audience in London: "I think in this case international law stood in the way of doing the right thing."

(Undernews)

No words

AMERICA has told Britain that it can “kidnap” British citizens if they are wanted for crimes in the United States.

A senior lawyer for the American government has told the Court of Appeal in London that kidnapping foreign citizens is permissible under American law because the US Supreme Court has sanctioned it....

Legal experts confirmed this weekend that America viewed extradition as just one way of getting foreign suspects back to face trial. Rendition, or kidnapping, dates back to 19th-century bounty hunting and Washington believes it is still legitimate.

(Times Online)