It’s just like that… except it’s not at all.

Ruben Navarrette Jr. had an apoplectic fit over increased funding for birth control in the stimulus bill. He takes issue particularly with a comment by Speaker Nancy Pelosi about how funding for birth control helps the economy:

“The family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now, and part of what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those -- one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.”

Navarrette squeals about how this implies Pelosi support eugenics just like Margaret Sanger. But is Pelosi saying anything incorrect?

Children cost money. Maybe in Navarrette’s world they don’t but here in real world they do. They cost money to the parent for food, clothing, etc and to the government for education, health care, food stamps, etc. More children = more expenses. Pelosi is not advocating forcible sterilization like eugenicists; she’s saying kids cost money and if people have less kids, we don’t have to spend as much. It’s common fucking sense.

Navarrette seems to think there’s something racist about what Pelosi said but perhaps Dr. Martin Luther King would disagree. From his acceptance speech winning the Margaret Sanger Award from Planned Parenthood:

“The Negro constitutes half the poor of the nation. Like all poor, Negro and white, they have many unwanted children. This is a cruel evil they urgently need to control. There is scarcely anything more tragic in human life than a child who is not wanted. That which should be a blessing becomes a curse for parent and child. There is nothing inherent in the Negro mentality which creates this condition. Their poverty causes it. When Negroes have been able to ascend economically, statistics reveal they plan their families with even greater care than whites. Negroes of higher economic and educational status actually have fewer children than white families in the same circumstances.”

Aren’t Republicans FOR AIDS Relief?

With the huge stimulus package, some conservatives are crying foul over the increased debt it will require. Since the states are requesting up to $1 Trillion in funding, state Republicans are throwing in their two cents. Glenn Grothman sent out a press release saying how Doyle should cut programs instead of asking for more money. That’s not out of the ordinary. But read the second to last sentence:

“Be it their past energy package, agriculture package, transportation package, No-Child-Left-Behind program or AIDS relief, we have had enough stimuli out of Washington.” (Emphasis added).

Is Glenn Grothman OPPOSED to AIDS relief? The other complaints are just standard conservative complaints but AIDS RELIEF?! Bush’s only international success has been PEPFAR and he’s been in favor of increased foreign aid to fighting AIDS.

I called Grothman’s office and they stated that Grothman doesn’t support deficit spending and has concerns about some parts of the AIDS relief program. I mentioned that he didn’t say that, he implied that AIDS relief was not something worth spending money on and asked if Senator Grothman really wanted to take that position. They didn’t really respond.

We knew Grothman was crazy but seriously, opposed to AIDS RELIEF?

Slashdot | Overzealous AirTran Boots 9 Passengers Off

So here’s what I don’t get. Let’s say these 9 passengers were really terrorists. They’ve gone through metal, bomb and explosive detectors. What is it that they could possibly do to a plane? Yell annoyingly at others?

Slashdot | Overzealous AirTran Boots 9 Passengers Off

Sex offenders must hand over passwords - Crime & courts- msnbc.com

How much longer until we put them in camps and begin their extermination? We’re at that point almost already.

Sex offenders must hand over passwords - Crime & courts- msnbc.com

Spore is horribly single threaded

I received Spore for Christmas and so far I do like it. It’s not exactly what I had hoped but its a fun distraction. One thing that bugs me though is how often the game slows down. Entering a planet’s atmosphere becomes slower and slower as more models are no longer kept in the graphics cache. What’s odd though is that PC specs are well above the recommended system requirements for Spore. To simply explain, in the Windows Performance Ratings my computer rates at 5.2 while Spore recommends a computer rated at a 4. Why should I have a problem?

I investigated and looked at one of the most important performance bottlenecks today: the lack of multi-threaded programming. Using the Vista’s built-in performance monitor, I checked CPU core usage over 30 minutes of game time. The graph below illustrates the problem.

 

Look at the core in yellow. At no point does its usage go above 20% while the purple core goes to near 100%. In short, Spore is not correctly multi-threaded. What’s silly is that model generation can be done in a totally parallel fashion since models aren’t dependent on each other. AI requires some level of connection but a large amount of the computation can be done separate.

To sum it up: EA got lazy and their customers suffer because of bad multi-core performance.

I’m back

I’m back writing my blog. No idea how long I’ll feel like doing it but here we go.

I'm not weird

Apparently Ms. Mamma thinks I'm weird so I have fill out this survey. Here goes...

1. What kind of SOAP is in your bathtub right now? Irish Spring I think... It's whatever mommy buys.

2. Do you have any watermelon in your refrigerator? Nope

3. What would you change about your living room? Make it so we can see the floor.

4. Are the dishes in your dishwasher clean or dirty? Nope.

5. What is in your fridge? A lot... The refrigerator is in the other room and I'm not close to ambitious enough to go check and write it down. Therefore I will simply say... ketchup.

6. White or wheat bread? Both usually

7. What is on top of your refrigerator? Lots of dust and I believe an old bowl of plastic fruit... with dust on top of it.

8. What color or design is on your shower curtain? It's dark green

9. How many plants are in your home? None

10. Is your bed made right now? Ha

11. Comet or Soft Scrub? I think we use Comet

12. Is your closet organized? No

13. Can you describe your flashlight? We've got too many... one of them has a regular bulb, and a white and red LED that you can switch between

14. Do you drink out of glass or plastic most of the time at home? Plastic

15. Do you have iced tea made in a pitcher right now? Nope, we're not iced tea drinkers

16. If you have a garage, is it cluttered? It contains a backyard wrestling ring, lawnmowers, corpses, tools, cars, etc.
17. Curtains or blinds? curtains, most particularly these tan fuckers from the 70s

18. How many pillows do you sleep with? 1 usually, sometimes two

19. Do you sleep with any lights on at night? Not intentionally but the lights from the cable modem, router and sound system never go off so there's a constant sickening electronic glow

20. How often do you vacuum? Not enough

21. Standard toothbrush or electric? Electric... I've heard those vibrating brush handles can be used for certain activities. Not that I'd know anything about that. *cough*

22. What color is your toothbrush? White and turbocharged like Heidi said

23. Do you have a welcome mat on your front porch? nope

24. What is in your oven right now? pots and pans

25. Is there anything under your bed? yep, lube, a box of various t-shirts that I want to keep for nostalgia and whatever clothes accidentally get pushed under it

26. Chore you hate doing the most? All of them? I don't know... washing dishes is pretty fucking awful

27. What retro items are in your home? Honestly I can't think of anything that's intentionally retro

28. Do you have a separate room that you use as an office? Nope, bedroom is my room for all important computer related activities

 
29. How many mirrors are in your home? Two I think

30. Do you have any hidden emergency money around your home? No, we have these wild places that hold onto your money are liable if they lose it. I think they're called banks or something like that...

31. What color are your walls? white except for a small area of the kitchen that is orange (this house is sooo 70s)

32. Do you keep any kind of protection weapons in your home? From what? the roving bands of suburban teens? Its not like I need protection from anything in particular. And by the way dear, I do have condoms ;)

33. What does your home smell like right now? guinea pigginess

34. Favorite candle scent? okay there are basically no non-gay guys that have a clue how to answer this so I'm stumped

35. What kind of pickles (if any) are in your refrigerator right now? *shrug*

36. What color is your favorite Bible? Burning Flame orange?

37. Ever been on your roof? I think so... not sure what for though

38. Do you own a stereo? Computer with a nice speaker system

39. How many TVs do you have? Two

40. How many house phones? Two

41. Do you have a housekeeper? If we do, he or she is doing a fucking awful job.

42. What style do you decorate in? Eastern/Buddhist feel

43. Do you like solid colors in furniture or prints? it can be nice

44. Is there a smoke detector in your home? yes, I guess that's something I'm protected against

45. In case of fire, what are the items in your house which you’d grab if you only could make one quick trip? Guinea pigs and maybe computer if I could... I don't think the odds of this happening are all that high though.

Revelation 4:11: "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."

Turning my stomach

I advocate strongly for mandatory HPV vaccines for all pre-teen girls (and after the trial gets done, boys). The vaccine prevents the type of HPV that causes 80% of the cases of cervical cancer, a disease that afflicts 12,000 young women every year in the United States and kills a quarter of them. The vaccine is expensive still but is totally worth the cost.

Despite the common sense of this, conservatives have made it a mission to prevent mandatory vaccinations because they feel that it will encourage young women to become sluts. How a good little girl will turn into a raging nympho because of 3 shots isn't really clear but damned if they care if it makes any sense. Additionally, some liberals are ostensibly opposed to it because its new and they don't like big Pharma but I've got the feeling there's a little puritan fear in most of them as well. All this is brought up in an article on Slate.com in which the author makes a very good point:

"...fears about the health risks of Gardasil have obscured the hidden moral calculus of the conservative opposition to Gardasil: that in the end, it may be worth it for several thousand women to die from cervical cancer every year as collateral damage in the war against premarital teen sex. Because, of course, even if the vaccination did encourage promiscuity, it's not clear that it's OK for women to die as a result."

Reading that made my stomach turn. It states the real moral balancing act that is being performed by conservatives who oppose Gardisil.

Apparently the idea of human sacrifice isn't so foreign to Christians after all.

Matthew 5:46-48: "For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

What's on my mind...

• My neighbor killed himself yesterday. He was in his 40s, had 3 kids, seemingly good stable job. I don't know the details but I'm just... out of it right now. I don't get it. I wasn't close to him but almost once a day he'd be outside and would wave at me as I drove by. He also signed my nomination papers and put up one of my campaign signs. It's confusing in so many ways. It makes me understand why people believe in religion because I can see how it would be comforting in these situations.
• Speaking of religion, I watched JCTV tonight which is a station we just started getting about a month ago (along with 10 other religious channels). JCTV is a Christian music and extreme sports channel. Most of the music is metalcore even death metal. These bands are like Slayer heavy. I don't get it. Most of them say nothing about Christianity, so why are they Christian rock? All I've figured out is that Christian youth are fuckin' PISSED.
• It's 2:03AM and I have to be up at 7. Fuck me.

2 Timothy 1:8-9: "Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began...."

St. Elmo's Fire...

is a horrible movie. Honestly, it's one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Slightly entertaining but bad.

Psalm 33:6: "By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host."

Women have abortions to not get stretch marks

Or so says our friends at Wisconsin Right to Life. WRTL claims that under the Healthy Wisconsin universal health insurance plan Wisconsin taxpayers would be forced to pay for abortions for any woman including(with my commentary in parenthesis):

• The married woman who isn't sure who the father of her baby is and doesn't want her husband to know she's got a boyfriend. (Evil slutty women... And couldn't that be in order to protect her safety from an abusive husband?)
• The woman who is having her third abortion. (Evil slutty women)
• The woman who doesn't want the inconvenience of a baby to interfere with her career plans. (Evil greedy slutty women)
• The woman who doesn't want to appear in her bikini with stretch marks. (That's just too ridiculous to say something about here)
• Any other Wisconsin woman, for any reason, at any time during pregnancy, for as many times as she would choose to have one, with no restrictions whatsoever.

The last one is laughable because it implies Healthy Wisconsin allows abortions past viability. However since the state still bans abortions past viability (hell the state actually bans all abortions but its an unenforceable law) these abortions wouldn't be covered anyway.

Do they really think most women are so shallow as to have abortions to keep from getting stretch marks? How deluded are these people?

Isaiah 55:6-7: "Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."

Clearing the way for the oil brigade

"We don't need your hypocrisy
Execute real democracy." -- Serj Tankian

Proverbs 17:17: "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity."

Big surprise, they're the first to do this

According to WisPolitics, a group of recent UW grads have started the Free Trade Shop. No not the FAIR trade shop, the FREE trade shop. They're doing it to counter the fair trade movement because they claim fair trade is anti-capitalist, etc., etc. Puhleeze.

Most fair trade is not government sanctioned but is conducted by groups who sell goods they bought at a price higher than standard and sell to consumers who are interested in those goods. Consumers buy these goods because for moral and practical reasons (the goods are often higher quality than what people buy in most stores). In other words its simply an example of the "invisible hand" working. People choose to pay a price they feel is reasonable for a type of good they want. Why they do so is irrelevant. There is demand for these types of goods and fair trade groups service them.

One shirt they have indicates that they have a problem with fair trade coffee. The complaint makes no sense if they really believe in the market system. Starbucks had demand for fair trade certified coffee so they provide it. It's not supply and demand that's solely based on the price of the product, it's supply and demand period.

I also find it funny when they say that some people are looking for low cost, high quality goods. If that was totally true, no one would buy their shirts. They would simply be priced out of the market. The whole idea of this store is laughable. I'm not surprised when they say they're the first to start a company over this.

Matthew 6:6: "But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

Eric says...

shooting a snake in a tree is a very poor way to get it down. Perhaps using a snake handler would be a better idea. If I find a crying child in a street who won't cooperate, I don't shoot them do I?

Romans 12:13: "Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality."

Too many children

I've been thinking more about the Duggar brood and I become more disturbed the more I think about it. From what I've been reading, the Duggars live in part off charity they receive from local families. I have no problem with charity. I do have a problem with people getting charity that could be better spent in many ways other than subsidizing their baby factory. When a baby is born they stay with the mother for only a few months and then they get a "buddy" meaning an older child who then raises them. In other words they force their teenage children to adopt. Super.

1 Corinthians 11:32: "But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world."

Abortion is Evil

Great title huh? Watch this video. In it the poster asks anti-abortion protestors, some of whom have volunteered about 5 years, are asked what the punishment should be for a woman who chooses to have an illegal abortion. Stunningly only one would accept that a woman who killed her unborn child should receive jail time. Every single protestor says without hesitation that abortion should be illegal but stammer and stumble when asked what the punishment should be for a woman who kills her baby. The conversation with the elderly lady is priceless and show how little abortion foes have thought through the consequences of their plans.

As pointed out in Newsweek, there are two ways of looking at this issues:

1. Abortion is murder and if outlawed, women who get abortions should get some sort of jail time (likely similar to pre-meditated murder).
2. Abortion is not murder and abortion should be legal.

Abortion opponents claim without doubt that abortion is murder. If that's so, why should women get anything less than the punishment for murder? I'll be the first to support rehabilitation and compassion criminals but there's no chance I would support convicting someone for first degree murder and letting them go without some time in a prison or mental institution.

By my estimation, if a pro-lifer supports anything less than a charge of first-degree murder for a woman who gets an illegal abortion they view the life of a fetus as less important than other life. Isn't that the meaning?

Oh readers, what should the punishment be for a woman who get illegal abortions?

Philippians 2:9-11: "Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

His fucking name is Jim Bob

Can't we put these people in prison for SOMETHING? It's the human equivalent of the crazy cat lady.

Isaiah 50:7: "But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame."

I emerged in London rain

"...I remember the night we walked along the Seine
Riding on The Metro..."

John 13:34-35: ""A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.""

I think moaning should be involved

I'm apparently doing the moaning meme because the hottest MILF I know, Ms. Mamma, requested I do so. So I am. Don't I just rock? :)

Five people who will be annoyed you tagged them:

No one. The only person I'd send this would be Ms. Mamma and since she already did it I can't send it to anyone. Sorry!

4 things that should go into room 101 and be removed from the face of the earth.

1. Bush (the president)
2. Bush (just guess)
3. Jesus freaks
4. Homophobia (I guess that relates to Jesus freaks)

3 things people do that make you want to shake them violently.

1. Using the word 'gay' in place of the word 'stupid'.
2. Torture
3. Saying that people who don't have health insurance should "just go buy some."

2 things you find yourself moaning about

1. Humidity (I'll second that babe)
2. Politics (Big surprise there)

1 thing the above answers tell you about yourself.

I use too many parenthesis.

RULES
* Link to the original meme at freelancecynic.com so people know what it's all about!
* Be as honest as possible, This is about letting people get to know the real you!
* Try not to insult anyone - unless they really deserve it or are very, very ugly!
* Post these rules at the end of every meme!

Where do you expect us to go...

 when the bombs fall?

2 Corinthians 9:7: "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."