One Thing About "Draw Mohammed Day"

Don't get me wrong, I support it. But those who think that the other religions are as pure as the driven snow on the issue of freedom of speech are deluding themselves.

Remember when America's Little Fascist Mayor tried to evict the Brooklyn Museum because it displayed an Afrocentric painting of the Virgin May? Giuliani called those who supported the museum "first amendment kooks," which showed just how dedicated he was to the ideals of liberty and freedom. The Republicans in the House passed a non-binding resolution calling for funding to the museum to be cut, clear testimony to the GOP's dedication to freedom of expression.[1]

That was not the only incident, of course. There were death threats when the photograph "Piss Christ" was exhibited. Even the movie "Dogma" sparked a few death threats. There probably were some over "the Life of Brian", but I don't have the time to look into that.

[1]Some old fogy defaced the painting because he was offended by it.

One to Two Million Gallons of Oil a Day

The lower figure is apparently what the BP well is leaking, now. The higher figure is what it may well leak if the riser pipe snaps in two.

That $500,000 blowout prevention valve system, which BP successfully fought installing, is going to look like chump change. Note that the Bush Administration adopted the Libertarian/Randian point of view that "corporations will adopt safety measures on their own because their reputation is on the line", or some such bullshit.

Of course, BP is crying the same sort of crocodile tears that Massey Coal gushed forth:

"Losing 11 of our industry colleagues is a tragedy for the offshore community," said BP Group Chief Executive Tony Hayward in the statement.

What a load of self-serving horseshit.

(H/T)

Facebook- Are You Fucking Kidding Me?

Hurrah for Incompetence, Ineptitude, Inexperience, Idiocy and/or Infiltration

Some clown or clowns planted a car bomb in Times Square that failed to detonate. The cops are looking for a white dude in his 40s.

The bomber(s) swapped out license plates, removed at least one of the VIN tags, but made a bomb that failed to blow. Any number of reasons, including those listed in the title to this post, could explain why that was so.

As to who that white dude was, time will tell. He'll be found.

Happy May Day

Ah, the first day of May!

A day when the Soviet Union once paraded its military hardware though Red Square:



A day when Emperor Dorquemada proclaimed a war to be over, a war that, in truth, had hardly begun.



The Soviets bankrupted their country and lost their empire as a result of, in part, unsustainable military spending.

Chimpy the Lesser put two wars, costing untold trillions of dollars, on the national debt while handing out boatloads of cash to rich people in the form of tax breaks and while sacrificing America's position as a moral leader in the world.

The First of May should become known as International Insane Folly Day.

How Much Would You Pay For a Newspaper That Has Never Made Money?

The Washington Times is up for sale. The paper was started by the Unification Church nearly 30 years ago and has been run and owned by the Moonies ever since.

The Washington Times is certifiably a wingnut, if not fascist, rag and it has never, ever made money. It's almost astonishing that Rupert Murdoch hasn't snapped it up.

Caturday

Gracie and Jake take a nap in the sun.

In another 15 minutes, the sun will be off Jake and, not long after that, it will be gone from Gracie. My apartment's windows only face to the east, so the cats can only enjoy a few hours worth of sun each day.

Apollo 11

You've probably seen slow-motion clips of this angle of the launch.  Mark Gray of Spacecraft Films is narrating it and explaining what is going on.  Give it a watch, you'll learn how much planning and thought went into just this one area of the program.


Apollo 11 Saturn V Launch (HD) Camera E-8 from Mark Gray on Vimeo.

Go full-screen for this one.

(H/T)

A Question for Conservatives

I asked this 2.5 years ago and the basic question is still germane today:

You guys were so enamored of every defilement of the Constitution that was done by the Bush Administration. Every expansion of presidential power met with your approval. You had no problem when Bush expanded Medicare in a massive unfunded mandate.[1] It didn't bother you a bit when Bush took a budgetary surplus and converted it into a whopping deficit by handing out massive tax breaks and then putting the spending for two wars 100% on the national credit card.

In fact, those of us who questioned the usurpation of the rule of law by the Bush Administration were called "unpatriotic" and worse. By you guys.

So I asked in 2007 if you conservatives would stay consistent to what you had been yelling since 2001 or, when a Democrat sat in the Oval Office, whether you would find yourselves becoming all of a sudden so concerned about the deficit and the rule of law and, by doing so, revealing yourselves to be the purely partisan goons that I thought all along you to be.

We have our answer now, don't we?

[1]Remember when that "unfunded mandates" thing so enraged conservatives? I didn't think so.

Summon the Chorus of Humorless Members of the 101st Chairborne Rangers

Some soldiers in Afghanistan remade a Lady Gaga video:



You can bet your ass that the Patton-Wannabees in the 82nd Keyboarders will not find any humor in it.

Fuck them.

(The short version of the original video is here.)