Moe Lane

Eric Schmidt’s not very happy with life:

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, gave a remarkable interview this month to the Washington Post. So remarkable that Post editors preceded the transcript with this disclosure: “He had just come from the dentist. And he had a toothache.”

[snip]

“So we get hauled in front of the Congress for developing a product that’s free, that serves a billion people. OK? I mean, I don’t know how to say it any clearer,” Mr. Schmidt told the Post. “It’s not like we raised prices. We could lower prices from free to . . . lower than free? You see what I’m saying?”

Yeah, Eric: you’re saying that your company got mugged by the branch of the legislature (i.e., the Senate) still controlled by the political party (i.e., the Democrats) that you’ve been giving a badly-disguised leg up for some time now, and you don’t care for it.

…Oops?

Moe Lane

I loved Captain America: The First Avenger when it came out, particularly for this exchange:

Red Skull: What makes you so special?
Captain America: Nothing. I’m just a kid from Brooklyn.

Heh.  So was I, Steve.  So was I.  It’s coming out tomorrow: can’t wait.

And so, adieu to X-Men: First Class.  Which I also quite liked, for different reasons.

Moe Lane

Yup!  I’m going there.

It’s funny: by the standards of a lot of people in the GOP I’m pretty firmly in the ‘pro-amnesty squish’ wing. [INSERT INTEMPERATE RESPONSE TO INSULTING AND PROVOCATIVE STATEMENT THAT WILL NOT FOSTER PARTY UNITY, BUT WILL MAKE THE RESPONDER PERSONALLY FEEL BETTER ABOUT BEING CALLED A RUDE NAME HERE] So it’s always a little interesting to talk about the immigration debate in the primaries.  Particularly since the two people that I’ll be talking about – Rick Perry and Mitt Romney – are both considered to be pro-amnesty squishes themselves by some.

First off, we have what is an entertainingly unhinged response by Team Romney over something written about Rick Perry in passing by MSNBC:

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The background: Politico did an article on how Democrats across the land who have tough battles ahead in 2012 are kind of… avoiding… the President these days.  The quote below comes right after the article in question noted that most sitting North Carolina Democrats were distinctly unwilling to get within camera range of Barack Obama:

“[Obama] may end up being Walter Mondale of 1984,” said Raleigh-based Democratic strategist Brad Crone, recalling how the only elected official who risked being seen with the party’s nominee that year was the longtime agriculture commissioner.

Man.  Those ag commissioners are afraid of nothing, huh?  Must be all that contact with genetically engineered food.  No, really: I hear that the latest generation of GM corn has taken to carrying around switchblades and hassling the rutabagas. (more…)

Sunny Afternoon, The Kinks

OK, so nothing like this actually happened today, except for the sunny afternoon.

This is not actually a request.

(Via @justin_hart) Available for a song, too:

“People who are extremely wealthy, who are philanthropic, who want to help the movement, the concept would be for one of those folks to buy it and donate it to Occupy, buy it and have it serve as a central repository since there is no centralized resource,” said Karen Bernstein, a New York-based lawyer who handles Ms. Comito’s domain sales. ”This would be a perfect match,” she said.

[snip]

Ms. Bernstein hopes to get “six digits” for the domain, which ordinarily would have been worth a few thousand.

(more…)

“Gadhafi’s autopsy reveals he was shot in head.”

I’m also going to go out on a limb here and note that the fact that they’re not going to say whether or not that bullet was fired at zero range is a pretty good indication that it was.  In other words, targeted killing.

You can’t see it, but I have my I am so very upset that a dictator who had American civilians killed – and who I had to accept getting away with it, for the sake of geopolitical stability – ended his life terrified, on his knees, and with a cold revolver muzzle shoved against the base of his neck expression on my face.  ‘Course, I also have no idea whether things are going to be better in Libya, once they finish tossing Gadhafi into the same unmarked grave that we dumped the War Powers Act into – but I guess that we’re going to find out, huh?

Let’s see who got arrested and/or committed a variety of illegal activities, shall we?

• Boston.  Cyber-terrorism! Vandalizing! (Via AofSHQ)
• Charlotte. Public nuisance! (Blocking traffic, specifically.)
• Chicago. Trespassing! (Via @amandacarpenter)
• Cincinnati. Trespassing! (Yes, that one was boring.  Work with me for a minute.)
• Gainesville.  Bo Diddley’s son arrested at Bo Diddley plaza for tresspassing!  (…OK, yeah, that’s a little ironic. And old. Hush with your insidious Earth-logic, hu-man.)
• NYC. Cornell West arrested as a favor for Cornell West! (I wonder how this guy feels about the fact that fifty years from now he’ll be remembered, if at all, for his cameos in the Matrix trilogy.)
• Oakland. Looming confrontation! (I wonder if anybody’s called up Governor Moonbeam yet to find out where he stashed the wooden bullets.)
• Orlando. Illegal camping! (Seriously, most of these people do have homes to live in.)
• San Antonio.  …is proud of its fifteen-day no-arrest record. (Note: this is newsworthy.)
• San Jose. Illegal camping! Criminal vandalism! (I’m scoring that last one because while the cops took pity on the perp being in a wheelchair, I don’t have to.)
• Santa Ana.  Illegal camping! (Solidarity, brothers.)
• Seattle.  Chalk Graffiti! Obstructing a police officer trying to leave the scene! (Seriously, even if you’re ticked off at this list: you have to admit, trying to stop a cop from going away was pretty much asking for an arrest.)

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Howard Tayler reviews:

Once we’re done scrolling past a neat, toy-soldiers-on-map version of Europe, The Three Musketeers gives us a steampunk scuba diver emerging from the canals of Venice with repeating crossbows.

 

Okay, so it’s going to be THAT kind of movie.

See, this is the information that I need when making cinematic viewing choices.

Moe Lane (more…)

Which begs the question: what else did former Alabama Congressman Artur Davis* (D) get wrong?

I’ve changed my mind on voter ID laws — I think Alabama did the right thing in passing one — and I wish I had gotten it right when I was in political office.

[snip]

Voting the names of the dead, and the nonexistent, and the too-mentally-impaired to function, cancels out the votes of citizens who are exercising their rights — that’s suppression by any light. If you doubt it exists, I don’t; I’ve heard the peddlers of these ballots brag about it, I’ve been asked to provide the funds for it, and I am confident it has changed at least a few close local election results.

Bolding mine.  I’d like the former Congressman to expound a little on that part, if he pleases; only this time, with names, addresses, and last known location.  Actually, I’d like him to expound a little on that part even if he doesn’t please.  Because what Mr. Davis is describing are felonies. (more…)

OK, that makes the second song* in a row that doesn’t have an Amazon link. Sheesh, I’m off my game.

Third time’s the charm…

The Battle Of New Orleans, Johnny Cash

*This one and this one.