Wednesday Open Thread

by someone
Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 10:43:23 AM EST

Everyone happy with your new Swedish overlords?


Sweden's governing coalition, left to right:
Fredrik Reinfeldt, Leader of the Moderate Party, Prime Minister
Maud Olofsson, Leader of the Centre Party, Minister of Enterprise, Energy and Communications
Jan Björklund, Leader of the Liberal People's Party, Minister of Education and Research
Göran Hägglund, Leader of the Christian Democrats, Minister of Health and Social Affairs
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Note that the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+Shift+N) that was assigned to the Translation formatter has been assigned by Firefox to 'undo close window'. You have to either disable that function, or reassign some keys. Use the key preferences utility described in the TribExt v0.123 diary, in the Key Preferences section.


by someone (s0me1smail(a)gmail(d)com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 10:50:13 AM EST
Thanks a lot !

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 11:00:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Hooraaaaay!!!

I'm tired of this backslapping, aint humanity great BS, we're a virus with shoes Bill Hicks
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 11:04:52 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Hello all.

Comment tree view (the little arrows to collapse/expand the comment threads) no longer work for me, since a couple of days. Haven't changed anything to my profile or my firefox. My stupid organization may have made stupid changes to the proxy/firewalls though. But no site other than Eurotrib has changed in any way recently.

Anyone seen the same problem ?

Pierre

Pierre

by Pierre on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 10:55:28 AM EST
Now that you say it: I observed the same when I checked one of the 300+ comment threads a few days ago.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
by DoDo on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 11:05:10 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I get it on every page with the dynamic threading feature (which is active in user comment page, and in diaries with a few dozen messages in my settings).

The little arrows call a java script, which only refreshes the rating box for the clicked comment, and not the subthread.

Pierre

by Pierre on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 11:15:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Yes, I have noticed it at work...

A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds; a man of deeds and not of words is like a garden full of turds — Anonymous
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 04:02:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I just checked, and it's not working for me either.

When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 04:27:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It works on Safari...

A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds; a man of deeds and not of words is like a garden full of turds — Anonymous
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 05:04:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]
So to summarize:
  • broken for many people (presumably using Firefox or IE) since about a week
  • still works in Safari

Have we changed anything on the server lately ?

Pierre
by Pierre on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 03:15:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Not to my knowledge...

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
by DoDo on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 07:23:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]
There was an issue of the images that makes the load link moving after the image update. I fixed that.

Now there is an error in the javascript.
There is this bit:
    // Get the set of comments out of the body
    if(body.children)
        divs = body.children.tags('DIV');
    else if(body.childNodes) {
        divs = new Array();
        for(var i = 0; i < body.childNodes.length; ++i)
            if(body.childNodes[i].tagName == 'DIV')
                divs.push(body.childNodes[i]);
    }

Where the if is trying to catch IE which implements children. Firefox didn't use to have that property at all and instead used childNodes. Now they do seem to have implemented a children property, but it does not have a method called tags, which apparently IE has. The cure is probably to swap the if and else if.

Do we have a proper way to access the dynamic-comments.js file? Else I can make a copy, upload it, and change the 'src' parameter in the appropriate <script> tag.

by someone (s0me1smail(a)gmail(d)com) on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 07:34:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Probably easiest to make a new copy ...
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 07:45:24 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Do you mean the children property was implemented in firefox with a minor upgrade that got auto-downloaded ?

Pierre
by Pierre on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 09:05:28 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I suppose this must be the case, since that bit of code has never caused problems before. Checking with the javascript shell <node>.children was indeed implemented in Firefox now.

I find this also:
element - MDC

children New in Firefox 3.5

So children seems to be a new property in Firefox 3.5. Working differently than the property with the same name in IE, though.
by someone (s0me1smail(a)gmail(d)com) on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 09:35:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The comment tree works for me now, btw. So please check that this was the problem also for you.
by someone (s0me1smail(a)gmail(d)com) on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 09:37:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]
yup, fixed it !
huurray !

Pierre
by Pierre on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 09:57:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]
duh !
I'm still in 3.0.11 on the PC, gotta check on the Mac (which has the bug too), but I'm sure it's a 3.0.x

Pierre
by Pierre on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 09:54:13 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Huh. Did they implement it earlier in secret?

Since I already zapped my earlier Firefox, could you try the shell at: http://www.squarefree.com/shell/shell.html and see if document.body.children is defined?

by someone (s0me1smail(a)gmail(d)com) on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 10:19:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]
print(document.body.children)
undefined

this widget is really nice BTW

Pierre

by Pierre on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 10:40:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]
but the mystery thickens, right ?

Pierre
by Pierre on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 10:43:43 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Yup, that is strange. Because that was the code which got flagged by Firefox 3.5. And fixing it seems to have worked for you too. Bizarre!
by someone (s0me1smail(a)gmail(d)com) on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 10:49:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Yup. It has some very nice features, including tab complete for implemented properties. Check out https://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/webdevel.html
to pick up the shell bookmark. When you invoke it you will get a new window that inherit the javascript environment from the current page. Very, very useful.
by someone (s0me1smail(a)gmail(d)com) on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 10:52:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]
BBC NEWS | Business | East Coast rail to be state-run

The government says it intends to take the East Coast rail service, run by National Express, into state ownership.

The troubled rail franchise, which is expected to have lost £20m in the first half of the year, is suffering from falling passenger numbers.

Ministers have refused National Express's requests for its contract with the government to be renegotiated.



I'm tired of this backslapping, aint humanity great BS, we're a virus with shoes Bill Hicks
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 11:05:46 AM EST
Heh. First New Zealand, and now this. Yet, I wonder how many renationalisations in Anglo countries will it take for other countries to at least stop further rail privatisation... Just recently, Turkey decided to separate infrastructure and operations and go open-access. While Belgium is touted as the next role model for PPP...

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
by DoDo on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 11:15:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Can you say 'insane'?

Rail crisis: London-to-Edinburgh route to be nationalised | Business | guardian.co.uk

It is the second time in three years that the owner of the east coast contract has walked away from its contract. GNER gave up the franchise in 2006 after admitting that its promise to pay the Department for Transport (DfT) £1.3bn over 10 years was too much. Undeterred, National Express bid £1.4bn for a seven-and-a-half year contract less than 12 months later.

[...]

The contract has become a financial millstone that is expected to lose the company £90m over the next two years. In order to meet its targets, the franchise requires passenger revenue growth of about 10% per year, but the latest figures showed a 1% increase in turnover as the recession hits demand and forces business passengers - a key earner for the route - to trade down to standard class tickets.

And this from 2008:

National Express profits climb as rail booms

Booming demand for rail travel has allowed National Express to commit to raising its dividend by 10 per cent for the next three years.

The bus and transport group, which today reported pre-tax profits up 44 per cent to £149 million, has seen passenger growth of 6 per cent in 2007, despite high-profile problems on the railway network and above-inflation increases in ticket prices.

Shares in National Express climbed almost 4 per cent in early trading to £11.60, on the back of the results, which were slightly ahead of market expectations.

The transport group, which has operated the high-profile long-distance East Coast business from London to Scotland since December, said that its confidence over the group's prospects, in particular its rail business, meant that it could commit to a 10 per cent a year increase in the dividend.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 11:46:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]
...and heh and hah!

Royal Mail sell-off plan is shelved - Yahoo! News UK

Part-privatisation of the Royal Mail will not go ahead as planned because of the depressed state of the economy, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has announced.


*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
by DoDo on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 11:41:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]
National Express have two other franchises that are not going to be taken over as they are profitable. So we have privatised profits and socialised losses.

There is, as yet, no sign that UK Govt has any concept of running railways as a public service. Merely as a profit centre.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 11:43:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The head of National Express was just on the car radio saying that reports of nationalisation have been exaggerated.

What he says they told the government is that in the event that the economic situation doesn't improve, they will be looking to hand over the franchise in an orderly way later in the year.

by Sassafras on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 12:19:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
This blog post will be a piece of provocation on the Labour List blog tomorrow...

Blog « Nordic Enterprise Trust

Oh Mr Porter!

One of my favourite lines in film is the response to Will Hay in the film "Oh, Mr Porter" when he arrives as the new station master at Buggleskelly station and enquires at the ticket office window...

"The next train's gone!"

...shouts his new (in) subordinate as he slams shut the window.

The Department for Transport must be feeling as bemused as Will Hay's character by yet another example of the "privatise profits, socialise losses" syndrome which occurred today when National Express decided to walk away from their franchise to the East Coast London to Edinburgh line. The reason is, apparently, that the economic downturn has blown a hole in their projected income as business travel in particular has collapsed.

So what happens now?

Question to Dodo. I remember seeing a couple of Eurostars in service between London and York in GNER colours. Is there any reason why they should not run to Edinburgh and Glasgow?


Modern conservatives engage in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy: the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.Galbraith

by ChrisCook (cojockathotmaildotcom) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 03:23:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Presently, less or no spare Eurostars due to increased traffic on its core lines: they'd need more trains no run North again. (In fact, on High Speed 1, they could now run standard TGVs with their wider cross-section.)

But, the problem here doesn't seem to be the choice of train, but the business model.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 05:09:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
They wouldn't have been eurostars, they're too wide for British gauge.

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 04:48:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Nope, Eurostars were specially designed for British gauge, as they ran on normal British lines from the Chunnel to Waterloo before High Speed 1 fully opened to St. Pancras International.

The leased Eurostars' Northern excursions were a relatively short episode, lasting from 2000 to 2005. Check some photos on RailFanEurope -- here is one, with a train in GNER colours:



*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 07:17:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]
On the other hand, checking Wikipedia, I find the North of London sets (which are shorter by four cars) are still not in regular Eurostar service, but were leased to SNCF for domestic services.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
by DoDo on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 07:22:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]
BBC NEWS | Business | Cost of texting abroad comes down

The cost of sending text messages from your mobile phone when you are overseas in the European Union has come down.

The maximum charge for sending a text is now 11 euro cents ($0.15; 9.4p) plus sales tax.

It is the first time that text charges have been capped. The previous EU average was 28 cents.



I'm tired of this backslapping, aint humanity great BS, we're a virus with shoes Bill Hicks
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 11:10:11 AM EST
  1. For the past week, (a) the weather here was both warm and rainy, (b) workers are removing-replacing the plasterwork from the neighbouring wall =>
  2. with no suitable place to dry them, it is impossible to wash clothes =>
  3. I decided to buy some new T-shirts =>
  4. I wanted to go on a one-hour private work leave today =>
  5. went to tell the boss, but he kept talking about irrelevant stuff, one train gone =>
  6. I go for the next train, but it is late =>
  7. I listen to the loudspeaker (which usually announces when a train is late more than 15 minutes), it doesn't say a thing =>
  8. I don't take the bus but wait on -- the train is 25 minutes late =>
  9. my late train is stopped at the entrance of the terminus; I think it got into a train traffic jam =>
  10. this wait lasts for another 15 minutes, while shunting locomotives can be seen moving on the tracks ahead =>
  11. the train is called in with a call signal under the red light - must have been signal trouble =>
  12. an hour late, I get to the shop, grab three T-shirts, get in the line to the checker =>
  13. I wait in a line standing still for ten minutes, while the cashier lady checks and scans the barcode of about a hundred shirts (no exaggeration!) bought by a tourist looking like Gaddafi =>
  14. the tourist has some problem, but neither he nor the cashier lady speak any foreign languages; it's not over until a colleague/friend of the tourist turns up to translate =>
  15. finally the old man before me is on the line; turns out he is German, but only after he answers every question he doesn't understand with a mumbled "Yes" or "Thank you!" in Hungarian =>
  16. I get back to my workplace over a hour later than planned and feeling a year older...


*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
by DoDo on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 11:10:35 AM EST
That's a very entertaining story, esp. the part about the Gaddafi dude buying 100 t-shirts.  Sory it was entertainment at your expense.  If it makes you feel any better, yesterday I had 2 dr. appts. in the morning, at 9 and 11am, and planned to be back at work that afternoon.  I didn't even get in to see dr. #1 until 11:30, and the appointment consisted of a 5 minute explanation of why he needed to send me to a different doctor.  While waiting to see dr. #1, I had to reschedule dr. appt. #2, and they had no opening for 3 hours, which meant I'd have to go into work, and turn around an leave after one hour, which is a bit silly, so I had to take the whole day off in order to make dr. #2.  I got to dr. #2, who was supposed to be giving me some contraption and teaching me how to use it, and it turns out he was fresh out of said contraption, apologizing profusely for the inconvenience, let's reschedule for Friday...  So, basically I used up a day of sick time for nothing!  Grrrrr.

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
by poemless on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 12:16:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Oh. I didn't mention that I had the doctor visits the previous day... Now we have the idiotic waiting lists system too. SO I got myself appointments. But despite the appointments, I had to wait an hour both times. And that after running up and down three storeys in the hospital, becaause cost savings measures meant that some services aren't done within one specialist section. (Se we are getting your style of healthcare with our style of underfunding even withour privatisation...)

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
by DoDo on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 12:31:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Godd to see that private medicine is so much more eficient than those lazy Communist Socialised European doctors.

I'm tired of this backslapping, aint humanity great BS, we're a virus with shoes Bill Hicks
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 12:36:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Oh, and I forgot to add the part about how my referral for the specialist expired while I was still waiting for an appointment to get in to see him.  It turned out ok - they just faxed a new one over.  But it added to the kafkaesque tone of the day.

I should say that it is all covered by insurance.  In that respect I'm fortunate.  I have $10 co-pay.  That's it.  There are a lot of people who got through all of this and then get stuck with an enormous bill when it is over. You know, since we'd all been waiting all morning in the office (a nice elderly man offered to take me to lunch if when got out of the dr. office), a lot of people began moaning about our system, and talking about single payer.  Politicians are insane if they think people are not flipping out about these things.  

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.

by poemless on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 12:52:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I want to write two things...

First ..at long last some easy going days...

Second.. "Epic" results are starting to trickle in... the first serious (I would say scientific) effort to check the claim of alternative/vegetarian/eating behavior community.

Prepare for some surprises... because so far the alternative life style claims are being corroborated in incredible ways. So far, the claims of vegetarians and other groups are sustained for reasons that we actuallys still not know...and which ar enot actually what those group said.. but never mind.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/jul/01/vegetarians-blood-cancer-diet-risk

Epic is going to come back with more data...and present level of meat consumption (more than 100 gr per day) are looking increasingly like tobacco. At least, blood type cancer are getting epidiomologic risk of the order of magnitude of tobacco.. and you know I only trust epidiomology studies when they give these kind of numbers...Otherwise I will still defend that most of our medicine (official and alternative) is basically faith-based.

Let's recap: First hygiene, then high quantities of calories, then desinfectants, then antibiotycs, then tobacco reduction.. all of it pushed us towards the 70-80 margin (not drugs or any medicine) and now it seems that strong meat reduction could improve our quality of life inmensively (could we reach the 90-100?)

A pleasure

I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude

by kcurie on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 11:14:05 AM EST
Well, hold on a minute there, Buster. It's an interesting result, but it could also be that whatever it is that physiologically pre-disposes people to choose to be vegetarian also means they are less susceptible to cancer in the first place.

After all, more women than men choose vegetarianism. Some have suggested that this is because women tend towards having more nerve receptors generally and so have more sensitive palettes that show greater appreciation for the subtle flavours of veggies or they are overwhelmed by the strong flavours in red meat cookery (whichever). Now there could be something that whatever it is that stunts the growth of male nerve physiology also makes men more prone to cancer.

But that hasn't been tested. They have highlighted an interesting correlation that deserves investigation. It does, however, not show that meat eating is cancerous.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 11:41:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]
All this has been taken into account.. this is why this is the first serious "scientific project".

This project doe not have the standard tones of problem of other research.

No gender role biased, no "other inclinations" biased.
this is the first serious stuff.

Ont he other hand I have never read anything like the division you say.. there are cultures where woman take all meat.

A pleasure

I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude

by kcurie on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 11:56:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Vegetarians less likely to develop cancer than meat eaters, says study | Science | The Guardian
I met a doctor recently who was conducting a study on rates of recovery from childhood leukemia. They were lowest in England, highest in Japan and very high in Korea and Venezuela, where he was from. Common dietary factor in the places where rates of recovery were high: seaweed.

i'd bet most of the healthy ingredients of fish are found in sea veggies, and kelp -kombu- grows fast.

If'Madness is the absence of work'(Foucault), then Sanity is the presence of play..

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 01:09:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Nonsense.  Clearly this is proof that it's time to tax the shit out of meat.

Someone tell Michael Bloomberg, too.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 12:06:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]
A friend and colleague talks [in Spanish] about the impact of the Honduran crisis on the wider region.

"Beware of the man who does not talk, and the dog that does not bark." Cheyenne
by maracatu on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 11:34:50 AM EST
Words fail me:



WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 12:02:03 PM EST
Huh. Is this not a Comedy Central spoof? Please tell me it's a Comedy Central spoof! One could say 'irony just died' often in recent times, but this is a whole new quality...

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
by DoDo on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 12:09:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]
If anybody knew who the hell Michael Scheuer and Glenn Beck were, this would be begging an SNL skit.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 12:16:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
They could just call Scheuer "Anonymous" in the skit.

A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds; a man of deeds and not of words is like a garden full of turds — Anonymous
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 04:00:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]
the newer, truer face of analloyed, babyfaced evil...

note cunning slug last move to slide out of responsibility, sly, ain't we?

mayhem, confusion, his work is done...

like a post-disaster grass roots movement is going to watch fox and vote repug, anyway.

i sure glen's really kind to old ladies and kittens.

If'Madness is the absence of work'(Foucault), then Sanity is the presence of play..

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 12:16:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]
i sure glen's really kind to old ladies and kittens.

Whodda thunk Sarko would do an instant classic ?

"In private conversations, Jean-Marie Le Pen is also a nice person."


keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 01:02:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The problem with using hysteria to whip-up the masses is the 'tone' has to continually increase in order to whip-up the masses.  The second problem is the ever-increasing hysteria feeds action by their audience, since Obama won the Democratic Presidential nomination there has been a murder or violent assault or the last minute prevention of such a month here in the states.

Madness takes its toll. Have exact change ready
by ATinNM on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 12:21:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
This stuff flies under the radar.  

Only the Fox News audience and the liberal blog-o-sphere takes any notice.  The first accepts this because their crazy.  The second only to deplore it.

If the Democratic Party had the wits the goddess gave a goose they would be running Beck's comments as 60 second spots during prime time on the major networks.  Until a light is shone on these cockroaches they will continue to ferment Right Wing violence.


Madness takes its toll. Have exact change ready

by ATinNM on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 12:25:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]
ATinNM:
If the Democratic Party had the wits the goddess gave a goose they would be running Beck's comments as 60 second spots during prime time on the major networks.

ROTFL for the goosewits

amen for the rest, gb wants attention?

effing give it to him!

If'Madness is the absence of work'(Foucault), then Sanity is the presence of play..

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 12:46:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Only Osama can execute an attack that will force Americans to demand a government protect them effectively, consistently and with as much violence as necessary. "

So, let me make sure I got this straight : In order for the American people to be properly protected, they must first be devastatinglyly attacked. Is that what he's saying ?

Can I evade the Gong of Godwin by suggesting this is Goerring-esque ?

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 12:56:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]
And it Has to be by Osama too, no one else will do (And his not attacking just shows how evil he is)

I'm tired of this backslapping, aint humanity great BS, we're a virus with shoes Bill Hicks
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 12:59:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]
And notice, they're on a first name basis now.  Only Osama.

Somewhere in cyberspace, the ghost of de Chardin is smiling.
by budr on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 03:48:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Note that this is the author of Imperial Hubris speaking. Which makes it even more bizarre. (Including his appearance on the TV channel that cheerleaded the misconceptions he criticised.)

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
by DoDo on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 05:13:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]
This is gonna get the truther idiots into overdrive...

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
by Starvid (arvid.hallen at gmail.com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 01:27:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Scheuer:
because these politicians prize the praise of the media and the Europeans
What is the context for this, what is it that Obama did or did not do this weekend that made these people so upset?

A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds; a man of deeds and not of words is like a garden full of turds — Anonymous
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 04:06:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Obama = black = European = socialist = poor = uppity = un-American = they're-out-to-get-us-rape-our-women-(and-then-abort-them)-steal-our-money-(and-guns)-and-generally- be-evil.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 04:26:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
So let's hope Osama nukes New York?

No - it's still bollocks.

This isn't actually logic - it's projection.

They don't want Osama to nuke New York or DC - they want to do it themselves.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 04:49:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Beck says that if he were ObamaOsama he wouldn't attack the US (presumably because that would strengthen the US).

A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds; a man of deeds and not of words is like a garden full of turds — Anonymous
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 05:04:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]
after seeing beck nodding sagely as his second banana recited his propaganda, i have to believe what he said and how he felt are not the same.

his lawyer prolly told him to slip that in over his earbud headphone

'there, ass covered, whew!'

If'Madness is the absence of work'(Foucault), then Sanity is the presence of play..

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 09:17:28 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The Very Serious Wall Street Journal.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 12:52:04 PM EST
Those evil Democrat lawyers,

I'm tired of this backslapping, aint humanity great BS, we're a virus with shoes Bill Hicks
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 01:01:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Shocking.

You'd never find Repubs stealing elections like that.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 04:51:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]
that's outrageious.

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 01:03:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]
"He talks like a fag and his shit's all retarded!"

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 01:51:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]
What's WATB?

And just for the record, I didn't say that the WSJ Op-Ed was not insane, I said that they were somewhat open to publishing consistent deficit hawk conservatives that criticised the Bush White House for its reckless spending.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 02:15:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]
WATB: Whiny Ass Titty Babies.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 02:23:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]
You've got quite a mouth on you today.  What gives?

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
by poemless on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 02:24:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Alas, "WATB" is not my creation.

You hadn't heard it before?

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 02:25:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Whiney Ass Titty Baby - a Term Atrios made famous (might even have coined it).

ah I was right

Blog abbreviation for Whiney Ass Titty Baby; "new one from Atrios -- coined for Harris of the WaPo and Keller of NY Times," i.e. someone who makes excuses instead of doing the courageous thing.
The WATB reporter wrote what he thought would please the management and readers, and would be politically correct, instead of actually researching the facts for his article.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=WATB

by PeWi on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 02:35:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Naw. An acronymn does not a novel turn of phrase make. Acronymns are masks of meaning.

I got about as much respect for urbandictionary as I do wiki, but I must say that snap is old skool and not nearly as poetically rich as little red-headed stepchild (which Drew has used, too), both being regional expressions of contempt, strongly associated (in AA culture) with emasculation of black men.

Hope you appreciate it's cross-over appeal to post-racial bloggers of a certain age.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by MarketTrustee on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 03:10:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
BBC NEWS | Wales | Stage Buddha is too big for door

A statue of Buddha built for a musical turned out to be so big that a partition wall had to be taken down to get it out of the door.

The 5m (16ft) gold-coloured figure could not be freed from the Drill Hall in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion.

Technicians also realised a normal lorry was too small to get it to the Aberystwyth Arts Centre for the performance of The King and I.

They had to call in a crane to lift it onto a bigger lorry.



I'm tired of this backslapping, aint humanity great BS, we're a virus with shoes Bill Hicks
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 01:10:02 PM EST
Considering the prime tenet of Buddhism is Mindfulness ... that's pretty funny.

Madness takes its toll. Have exact change ready
by ATinNM on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 04:58:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, first, I'm currently in Erzurum, then heading to Kars tomorrow, hopefully with a side trip to Ani (ruins of an old Armenian capitol), then to Van, and from there I don't know. I'll probably go to Batman too because, well, it's called Batman.

The past several days have featured my first continuous encounters with people in the tourist industry who speak zero English; I've found in the past that even a 20 word English vocabulary is enough to get me the info I need. This leads to logistical tragicomedies but I'm used to them after six months of SE Asia and India. I'm on a swank Mercedes bus, who cares if I don't know if I'm on the right one?

So it'll be a few more weeks in Turkey. From there I am thinking roughly:

2 weeks Romania
2 weeks Hungary
2 weeks Czech Republic

Then down to Italy to chill with melo for a bit, and Rome for the first week of September. Paris next, for one week, including the meetup, with maybe one less snooty stop elsewhere in France for 3-4 days before Paris (any ideas?).

My sister who is traveling for five weeks around that time is going to meet me in Paris on the 15th; we're going to spend most of our time in Germany, and I'm going to try to talk her into at least five days in Berlin. We might go up to Holland to check out a small town that bears our surname, mostly to take our photo next to the sign. Then down to Austria to meet up with the people I was traveling with in Laos and Cambodia; two of the guys live in Salzburg, and we're going to train it up for Octoberfest during the last weekend of September.

Originally I was going to do Ireland or Scotland in October, but given the cold I think I'm going to spend it in Spain. Then the finale in Londinium to clean out the final bits of peanut butter from the jar of my bank account.

Bonus pic: Epic baklava


you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 01:11:41 PM EST
Wow, that is the most unappetizing baklava I've ever seen, and I LOVE baklava.  Looks like stuff you'd find in jars of formaldehyde in biology class and a huge brick of cream cheese.

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
by poemless on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 01:17:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It was incredibly good, actually.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 01:06:56 AM EST
[ Parent ]
To expand - well, I'm in Turkey, and that was in a city known for its sweets. The snake looking one does look a bit creepy without context, I suppose. The one on the left was the best, although they were all similar. As far as the ice cream - that's just how Turkish ice cream is presented unless it's in a cone. It's almost rubbery. It tastes like whipped cream as much as anything.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 10:56:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]
What kind of thing do you want to do in France ? There's plenty to do, and september is a great time to visit (nice weather, less tourists).

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 06:49:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Hmm...relax in a small town.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 04:08:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]
For what value of "small" ? There's plenty of choice for that... And quite a lot reachable by train. What kind of landscape around ? Mountains ? There are plenty of that in, say, Alpes de Hautes Provence, like Manosque, for a bit or Provence feel. But that's what would be called a village in much of the world, and you may not find many people around...

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 04:32:48 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Given that you're coming from Italy, Provence (Lubéron, Baux de Provence) is an excellent idea.

I'd suggest you visit Strasbourg on your way to Germany from Paris.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Thu Jul 2nd, 2009 at 05:34:27 AM EST
[ Parent ]


I'm tired of this backslapping, aint humanity great BS, we're a virus with shoes Bill Hicks
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 01:24:21 PM EST
Wow. Wossat?

We have buzzards up here we watch wheeling around. Fabulous.

Modern conservatives engage in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy: the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.Galbraith

by ChrisCook (cojockathotmaildotcom) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 03:32:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Thats a red kite, tagged as part of the local section of the reintroduction programme. They are some of the most gracefull fliers I've ever seen.

I'm tired of this backslapping, aint humanity great BS, we're a virus with shoes Bill Hicks
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 03:41:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Colruyt, consortium close to wind park buy

BRUSSELS, June 30 (Reuters) - Belgian discount supermarket chain Colruyt (COLR.BR) is in talks with Flemish financing group PMV to adopt Belgian offshore wind farm project Belwind, Belgian business daily De Tijd said on Tuesday citing unnamed sources.

Colruyt was not immediately available to comment on the report.

De Tijd said while Colruyt would be the largest shareholder of Belwind, it wouldn't have a majority share. Along with Colruyt and PMV, Dutch sea wind investor Zeewind, Dutch bank Rabobank [RABON.UL] and SHV Holding [SHVHD.UL] would also form the consortium.

The newspaper said Rabobank and SHV were large holders in Econcern, Belwind's Dutch parent company which filed for suspension of payments in May.

The paper said Belwind was negotiating with banks for a loan for the first part of its wind park, which the newspaper said would involve some 55 wind turbines and would cost between 500 and 600 million euros.

It said the European Investment Bank had agreed to lend 300 million euros ($420 million), and that Belwind had already closed a contract with Electrabel for purchase of the wind flow.

Now that it's in the press maybe they'll actually sign (</forlorn hope>)

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 02:17:23 PM EST
Win Some, Lose Some | Teleewwwwgraph | 1 July 2009

The small boat Spirit of Humanity was on its way to deliver medical supplies to Gaza when it was allegedly stopped by Israeli warships this morning with threats of gunfire. The people on board who were "forcibly" taken to Israel included eight from Britain and Ireland as well as fellow activists from the US, Denmark and the Middle East....

Ms [Mairead] Maguire, winner of a Noble Peace Prize for her work in Northern Ireland, said in a statement: "The aid we were carrying is a symbol of hope for the people of Gaza, hope that the sea route would open for them, and they would be able to transport their own materials to begin to reconstruct the schools, hospitals and thousands of homes destroyed during the onslaught."

Her fellow passenger Ms [Cynthia] McKinney, a former US presidential candidate, said: "This is an outrageous violation of international law against us. Our boat was not in Israeli waters, and we were on a human rights mission to the Gaza Strip. "We're asking the international community to demand our release so we can resume our journey."

January 2009: "I would like to ask President-elect Obama to say something please about the humanitarian crisis that is being experienced right now by the people of Gaza." Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney made her plea after disembarking from the badly damaged SS Dignity that had limped to the Lebanese port of Tyre while taking on water. The small boat, carrying McKinney, the Green Party's recent presidential candidate, other volunteers, and several tons of donated medical supplies, had been trying to reach the coast of Gaza when it was rammed by an Israeli gunboat in international waters.

Obama Pressure | Left Rear View Mirror | 1 July 2009

Bowing to pressure from Washington, Israel granted U.S.-trained Palestinian security forces greater autonomy in four main West Bank towns, Israeli and Palestinian defense officials said Thursday. The ability of Palestinian security forces to maintain law and order is key to Mideast peacemaking because Israel needs to be convinced that a future Palestinian state won't threaten its security.... The move stops short of a full withdrawal from these towns. The Israeli military doesn't routinely patrol West Bank towns and cities, but frequently conducts nighttime and occasional daytime arrest raids.

Obama Pressure | Right Rear View Mirror | 1 July 2009

While Obama tries to charm the Iranians, he has nothing but demands and threats for Israel. His administration, nearly six months in and with no apparent strategy for dealing with a recalcitrant Iran, is already kicking around creative ways to embarrass and humiliate the Netanyahu government should it disobey orders from Washington. It's a situation that could be difficult for some Democrats to explain to their constituents. As Ben Smith discovers, some of the Democrats who vouched for Obama on Israel during the campaign, and viciously attacked those who questioned his commitment to the Jewish state, are beginning to squirm a little themselves.

At arms-length how many more years? I wonder idly.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by MarketTrustee on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 02:40:07 PM EST
How does one embed a non YouTube video in this joint?

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090713/cohen_video

Stephen Cohen is being brilliant again.

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.

by poemless on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 04:34:25 PM EST
This looks very, very good.  The Olson-Boies challenge to Prop H8 is going to an evidentiary trial, and it looks like the judge essentially laid out a roadmap for opponents to overturn it.

As I said to Helen maybe a year or so ago, I've thought for a while this would be how same-sex marriage bans would be struck down.

Now I note a couple of Kossacks pointed to an opinion -- Romer v Evans -- which I hadn't read before.  Maybe it was covered in one of my law classes on a day I skipped.  Anyway, it's well worth a read.  The opinion is written by Justice Kennedy, who would (99% certain) be the swing vote should the challenge of all the way to the Supreme Court.  Should it come to that, this opinion indicates strongly to me that Kennedy would be inclined to rule our way.

Granted, I've only skimmed it so far, and I'm gonna read the rest later, but for now I feel stronger about my guess than I did before -- that Olson and Boies are gonna go all the way to Supreme Court, and they're gonna win.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Wed Jul 1st, 2009 at 05:41:54 PM EST


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