The ramblings of a raving liberal
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Freeptop" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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05:49 pm
[Link] | What it took to clear the road this morning:
- 8 people with shovels
- 1 person with a snow blower
- 1 large truck with a snow plow
- 1 skid loader (to dig out the snow that was piled up by the plow)
- 2-3 hours of work by all of the above
But at least we now have a street clear enough to drive off of!
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10:31 am
[Link] |
I haven't bought much from Amazon in years...
And stuff like this is why.
I had originally started "boycotting" Amazon over some privacy policy change they made way back in either 1999 or 2000. I didn't buy anything from them for something like 8 or 9 years. I caved when there was something I couldn't obtain via other means (I can't remember now what it was), and I could only vaguely remember the original reason for my boycott. I haven't really had any reason to avoid them since, but I also hadn't had much reason to buy from them, either.
After seeing how they basically want to become a monopoly on book publishing, I'm not terribly inclined to go back to them again. Hats off to Jeff Bezos for figuring out how to make a profit off the internet faster than most, but his predatory business practices continue to make me dislike Amazon.
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11:45 am
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Sometimes, stupid things amuse me...
When taken out of context, this headline trips my sense of humor:
"Penguins Face Streaking Senators"
Current Mood:  amused
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04:17 pm
[Link] |
Sharing a holiday YouTube...
A Christmas message and song from Al Jourgensen of Ministry:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AxJTynZSVU
Man, I need to add iTunes Gift Card to my Christmas list, now.... ;)
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02:39 pm
[Link] |
HAHAHAHAHA
I'm just going to quote from the Penguins' website here:
"The Penguins coaching staff enjoyed their Sunday off by attending the KISS concert at Mellon Arena.
...
After Kiss finished their song "Detroit Rock City," the crowd booed for their displeasure of the Red Wings. Bylsma was asked A) if Kiss should have played the song and B) if he liked the fact that Pittsburghers booed.
"We were commenting on the fact of whether they should have played it or not. They should have and yes I did.""
http://penguins.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=509812
:)
Current Mood: amused
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09:17 am
[Link] |
Wow... what a great resource
Thanks to Shortpacked!, I am now aware of www.standforchristmas.com. This is a website where people submit comments to say if a store is "Christmas-friendly", "Christmas-negligent" or "Christmas-offensive". Normally, I'd just do a facepalm over this and move on, but I've discovered something wonderful: this is a great resource to find out which stores _aren't_ all in-your-face with Christmas! You can tell the website to rank them by most-offensive, or most-negligent! It's great!
Based on this website, I think Best Buy will be getting more of my business this holiday season :)
Current Mood: amused
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11:28 am
[Link] |
Amusing hockey story
"New York Islanders defenceman Brendan Witt was hit by a car in Philadelphia on Tuesday, according to Newsday. But Witt reportedly picked himself up off the road and, after a few profanities, assured everyone he was all right before continuing on his way ...
"I'm okay," Witt told the crowd as he dusted himself off, according to Newsday. "I've got to go play some hockey. I'm a hockey player. I'm okay. No big deal.""
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=301565
Hit by a car in the morning, will still play in tonight's hockey game. I'm not a fan of the Islanders, nor of Brendan Witt, but that's still an awesome story.
Though this probably does contradict the NHL advertising campaign from a couple years back that said, "Hockey players are just like everybody else, except they're really good at hockey". I can't think of too many people that can just get up and walk away after getting hit by a car, after all...
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10:32 am
[Link] |
Eloquent speech on behalf of same-sex marriage in the NY State Senate
Stolen from a friend on Facebook:
http://jezebel.com/5417973/heroine-alert-diane-savino-ny-state-senator
Senator Savino nails it. She aptly tears apart the arguments used against same-sex marriage, and presents the reasons for it. Bravo.
Make sure to watch the full video, and not just read the quotes, it's worth watching the whole speech.
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12:28 am
[Link] |
A belated Thanksgiving video...
I meant to share this on Thanksgiving, but hey, better late than never!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Qj8PhxSnhg
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10:01 am
[Link] |
This just had to be shared :)
I have to say, I'm with Dracula on this one:
http://www.applegeeks.com/comics/viewcomic.php?issue=552
Current Mood: amused
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08:59 am
[Link] |
Yep, this pretty much sums him up...
"I don't care about the Constitution!"
-- Bill O'Reilly, on Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to try five Gitmo detainees in NYC
(Taken from the "Say What" portion of today's Doonesbury Daily Dose: http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/ )
It was pretty clear this was true, based on many of his stands on issues, but it's nice to see him be honest about it for a change, I suppose.
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10:40 am
[Link] |
A link worth sharing
The headline: '86-year-old WWII vet on gay marriage: "what do you think I fought for in Omaha Beach?"'
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/10/20/86-year-old-wwii-vet.html?awesm=fbshare.me_NvQ
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10:19 am
[Link] |
G-20 protests and riots
We've got the G-20 Summit going on in Pittsburgh right now, and pretty much as expected, there were violent confrontations between some of the "protesters" and the police. I put "protesters" in quotes, because it was more like a riot than a protest. People were throwing rocks at the police, rolling dumpsters at the police, setting dumpsters on fire and rolling them at the police, and, of course, breaking windows of businesses all around the city. These self-proclaimed "anarchists" declared their "demonstration" a success, too.
I don't have much sympathy for them. They went out of their way to provoke the police, they caught up innocent people in their actions, and they destroyed private property, all so they could essentially say, "I told you that cops are bad!"
Sorry, but the ability to exercise your rights doesn't mean you get to trample on other people's rights. That's why you need a permit to do a massive march through a city: you're disrupting the lives of everyone around you when you do so. You're interfering with their rights to move freely, their ability to get to work, and, frankly, when it comes to this particular group, you're endangering their homes and their livelihoods. So I don't have much respect for these people who proudly call themselves anarchists. Somehow, I suspect they wouldn't much appreciate a true anarchy, where no rules means might makes right.
This isn't to paint all of the protesters with the same brush: most of them were peaceful, and I have no problem with them. In fact, there's a local blog that pretty much expresses how I feel perfectly: http://angrydrunkbureaucrat.blogspot.com/2009/09/open-letter-to-g-20-protesters.html
I feel sorry for those caught between the rioters and the police. Those who went to take a look, and got caught in the mess. But for those who incited these riots? You haven't convinced me that your cause is just, that your cause is sympathetic. You've convinced me that I don't want to have anything to do with you. You've convinced me that the city was correct to bring in extra police officers for this summit. You've convinced me that anarchy is not what I want. In other words, you've utterly failed. Congratulations.
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04:51 pm
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Rewriting history
It's always interesting to see a columnist attempt to re-write history. It's pretty gutsy to try to do so during a time when people can still remember the portion of history attempting to be re-written.
Charles Krauthammer, a well-known highly conservative newspaper columnist, wrote a column today where he claims to have a better health care reform plan. He completely obliterated any credibility for the rest of his column with his very first paragraph:
"In 1986, Ronald Reagan and Bill Bradley created a legislative miracle. They fashioned a tax reform that stripped loopholes, political favors, payoffs, patronage and other corruptions out of the tax system. With the resulting savings, they lowered tax rates across the board. Those reductions, combined with the elimination of the enormous inefficiencies and perverse incentives that go into tax sheltering, helped propel a 20-year economic boom."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/06/AR2009080602933.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
There was a 20-year economic boom from 1986 to 2006? Huh. I guess the Savings and Loan Crisis never happened. At least, not according to Krauthammer's version of history. Of course, it would be rather inconvenient to remember that part of history, considering one of the causes for said crisis was the 1986 Tax Reform that Krauthammer claims was a "legislative miracle."
Nope. No S&L Crisis in Krauthammer's history. I'm not sure how Bill Clinton got elected in 1992, for that matter. I guess those "It's the economy, stupid!" signs didn't exist. I guess Krauthammer wished so much that the Clinton years hadn't happened, that in his version of history, they didn't.
Tags: politics
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09:30 am
[Link] |
Tron!
I read a quick synopsis on imdb.com and saw the trailer for Tron Legacy. Looks like it could be fun. I'm definitely going to want to see it :)
(Trailer can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1dHhktFLPs&feature=channel )
On the flip side, I'm saddened by the comments associated with the trailer - entirely too many people didn't realize that Tron existed before Kingdom Hearts, or that there was a first movie... but even those people make me less sad than this comment: "wth!? is this like a future sport?"
*sigh*
Now I feel old. But at least my inner-child will be very happy to see this movie :)
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11:38 am
[Link] |
For any who think racism is dead...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/21/AR2009072101771.html?hpid=topnews
Here's a few things that stand out to me:
"After returning from a week in China researching the genealogy of cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Gates found himself locked out of his house, and he and his driver began pushing against the front door. The sight of two black men forcing open a door prompted an emergency call to police.
The white officer who arrived found Gates in the house (the driver was gone) and asked him to step outside. Gates refused, and [b]the officer followed him in[/b]."
Wait, no warrant, no permission to enter? I guess there could be probable cause based on a neighbor calling, but this is a bit questionable, constitutionally speaking (No unwarranted search and seizure).
"Gates showed him his ID, which included his address, then demanded that the officer identify himself. The officer did not comply, Gates said."
At the moment that Gates showed his ID, the officer should have apologized and left. There was clearly no crime committed here. Instead, the officer continues to harass Gates, and refuses to identify himself. I'm not sure about Massachusetts law, but in most states, police officers are [i]required[/i] to identify themselves upon request.
Sure, the police dropped the case, but frankly, I don't think that's enough. They are definitely wide-open to a lawsuit on this one.
As a side note, I also think it's pretty sad that the neighbor didn't even recognize him. It's a sad commentary on American society that people don't tend to know their own neighbors anymore. That's one of the things I like about living in Pittsburgh: we do actually know our neighbors.
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11:03 pm
[Link] |
WOO HOO!
So much for history being against them! The Pens just won The Stanley Cup!
:)
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10:44 am
[Link] |
How did I miss this? It happened 20 days ago!
The Maine state legislature passed a same-sex marriage law, and the Governor signed it, and I somehow missed it. Well, hats off to Maine!
The downside is that the law doesn't go into effect until September, and there is the possibility that it could be stopped before then, but for now, I'm holding out hope.
We're up to five states now. 45 and the Federal Government to go...
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08:52 am
[Link] |
This amused me greatly
"Water-boarding is torture... It's drowning. It gives you the complete sensation that you are drowning. It is no good, because you -- I'll put it to you this way; you give me a water board, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders."
-- Former Governor Jesse Ventura, an ex-Seal who endured waterboarding as part of his training
(Quote seen on: http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/ under "Say What?")
Current Mood: amused
Tags: politics
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11:53 pm
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Ooh! Yanni!
When I saw the headline, "Yanni Empathizes with Caps and Pens for Back-to-Back Games", I just knew the subsequent article was going to be awesome. I was not disappointed :)
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=278155
Current Mood: amused
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