What the Hell, It Didn't Work For Blackwater

As everyone must know by now, in an attempt to escape their reputation as a bunch of over-paid, trigger-happy, kiddie-shooting mercenaries, Blackwater Worldwide ThugCo changed their name to "Xe Services."

It didn't work. Everybody and their dog still calls them "Blackwater".

So, with that massive fail in mind, Comcast decided to change its name to "Xfinity", because nothings says "we are a company that everybody hates" like adopting a new name that begins with the letter "X". In a stunning lack of sense, ComBastards now also refers to themselves as "XF", which is probably fitting as they are one extremely fucked up entity.

I don't know what Comcast is trying to pull off. They could change their name to the "Mother Theresa and Her Adorable Puppies Cable Company" and everybody would still hate them.

Paterson Political Deathwatch

I suspect that if Governor David Paterson's conduct didn't rise to the level of obstruction of justice, that the dividing line is a pretty fine one.

Gov. David A. Paterson personally directed two state employees to contact the woman who had accused his close aide of assaulting her, according to two people with direct knowledge of the governor’s actions.

Mr. Paterson instructed his press secretary, Marissa Shorenstein, to ask the woman to publicly describe the episode as nonviolent, according to a third person, who was briefed on the matter. That description would contradict the woman’s accounts to the police and in court.

Resigning, hell, I wouldn't put a lot of money on his not being indicted. Obstruction of justice and/or witness tampering seem to be about right.

This isn't a matter of a powerful politician just trying to smoothing out a problem for a trusted aide, this is mucking around with the criminal justice system. If one of the Gambinos called up someone who was pressing charges against a lower-level lieutenant and "persuaded" the victim to not press the case, the goon would be charged. I don't see much a difference here.

Governor Paterson needs to step down.

Natural Flyers

High-speed photography of hummingbirds hovering to feed. I recommend going to full-screen for this one (sound is optional, there's nothing but techno-crap).



(A grateful H/T)

Trailblazer

Jeanne Holm, the first woman to become a general in the Air Force and the first woman to make it to a two-star rank, has died at age 88.

Helicopter Harold is Grounded

Harold E. Ford Jr., the former Tennessee congressman who has sought to parlay his star power and Wall Street connections into a political career in New York, has decided not to challenge Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand in the Democratic primary this September, according to friends and advisers.

"Star power"? Are they fucking serious? He's best known for losing an election in Tennessee, moving to New York and then forgetting to pay taxes.

Beyond that, Helicopter Harold's "Wall Street connections" were certain to make ol' Harold a lot more popular, as nobody blames Wall Street for the fact that tens of millions of Americans are out of work. [/snark]

Caturday

"Look at the food bowl, moron! Fix it!!"


George is playing with a Q-Tip.


Gracie: "You're playing with a Q-Tip? What are you, retarded?"

The Headsman Comes By on Fridays

At least it seems that's when the Navy releases news of the firings of commanding officers. This time, it is the CO of NAS Pensacola for "inappropriate conduct", which could be anything from a DWI charge to aggravated assault.

I suspect that the Navy plays the old "release bad news on Fridays" game, just like everyone else. I don't know how well that really works; the old dead-tree edition of Navy Times was a weekly paper. Even then, it sometimes took a month for it to get everywhere, so if one story was a week behind, nobody much cared.

What I Don't Get

On the one hand:

Al Qaeda gave us a bloody nose on September 11, 2001. A few large buildings were destroyed, others damaged, about 3,000 people killed.

As a result, we have spent over a trillion dollars going after them, engaging in a war of aggression (against Iraq) and have added a whole plethora of security measures, most of which were eyewash to make people feel better.

On the other hand:

Wall Street and the banks knowingly engaged in bubbleizing the economy. Some of them sold off securities that they knew were fraudulent and then bet on the near dead-nuts certainty of those securities failing. The global economy almost collapsed in September of 2008. Millions of Americans and tens of millions of people around the world were thrown out of work. The uncertainty of continued employment, let alone losing one's job, has bad health effects and people are dying.Thousands of businesses failed, as did well over a hundred banks in this country alone. Millions of Americans are financially trapped in houses for which they cannot sell, as they owe more than their homes are worth. At least one entire nation is essentially bankrupt.

As a result, by pledging almost a trillion dollars, we propped up the banks and Wall Street. Nobody, other than Bernie Madoff, went to jail. The only firm that was dismantled was Lehman Brothers. No meaningful reforms have been enacted to make it so the grifters on Wall Street and the banks, including those greedy fucks at Goldman Sachs, cannot do it again. No meaningful help as been provided to anyone other than the big banks. Commercial credit is still largely unavailable, as the banks took the billions from TARP and did nothing with the money, other than pay out lots of bonuses to their top-level management.

Does any of this make any sense to anyone? We got so outraged when a bunch of Chitrali-hat wearing thugs wrecked the World Trade Center, but when a bunch of bespoke-suit wearing goons wrecked the economy, we have done essentially nothing.

The bind moggles.

One Shot Is All You Get

Fiction. Damn good stuff, at that.

The story was part of the "Let Us Prey" flash fiction challenge. Links to the other entries are here.)

Turn On Your Tap and Get Hot and Cold Running Crud

That was a line from a nearly 50 year old song about pollution. But, sad to say, it is becoming timely once more.

Polluters, such as companies and even some Federal agencies (such as the Air Force), have seized upon two Supreme Court rulings to claim that they have the right to dump whatever filth they want into the nation's water supplies. Congress has been unable to fix the legal problems, first because a polluter's best friend was in the White House and now because a certain blubbery fascist with a television show has seized on the issue; when he blubbers for his idiot viewers call Congress, they do.

So if your local water supply is becoming contaminated, you can thank your nearest conservative.[1]



[1]There are three major pieces of legislation that make up what today we call the Clean Water Act. Two of them were enacted under Republican presidents. That could never happen now, for Republicans no longer believe in such a thing as government regulation.