Leave a comment
small and unassuming by day, massive and apocolyptic by night
protecting you from the ravages of hell since 1988!
18 July 2009 @ 12:51 pm
18 July 2009 @ 02:06 am
18 July 2009 @ 10:09 am
lazy18 July 2009 @ 11:21 am
1 ] Do not claim my work as your own
2 ] Do not edit
3 ] Screencaps made by me![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif)
sns_red_curtain
4 ] Comments are love so please leave them atsns_red_curtain
2 ] Do not edit
3 ] Screencaps made by me
sns_red_curtain 4 ] Comments are love so please leave them at
sns_red_curtain 
Feeling: blank
18 July 2009 @ 09:30 am
17 July 2009 @ 11:11 pm
The federal government will begin consulting Canadians on the issue of copyright reform next week, starting Monday in Vancouver.
The consultation, scheduled to run from Monday until Sept. 13, will give Canadians a chance to have their voices heard through roundtable discussions in locations across the country, a webcast townhall and an online discussion forum.
Industry Minister Tony Clement and Heritage Minister James Moore will officially launch the public consultations at a news conference at the central branch of the Vancouver Public Library on Monday at 12:45 p.m. PT, according to a release issued Friday afternoon.
Further details of the consultation process are not yet known, although there is also expected to be a roundtable meeting in Calgary on Tuesday.
The Conservatives' previous copyright-reform legislation, Bill C-61, died on the order paper last year when the federal election was called. But the Conservative government has been firm that it would reintroduce the legislation to amend Canada's copyright laws in order to satisfy the country's obligations to the World Intellectual Property Organization, which it signed on to in 1997.
( More behind the cut )18 July 2009 @ 01:02 am
17 July 2009 @ 09:05 pm
Taylor labels Hague case 'lies'
Ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor has dismissed as "lies" the war crimes case against him, as he took the stand for the first time at The Hague.
He denies 11 counts including terrorism, murder, rape and torture, at the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
The 61-year-old is accused of having armed and directed rebel groups from Liberia in order to seize control of Sierra Leone's diamond riches.
Mr Taylor is the first African leader to be tried by an international court.
"It is very, very, very unfortunate that the prosecution, because of disinformation, misinformation, lies, rumours, would associate me with such titles or descriptions," he said of the charges.
'Love for humanity'
He denied involvement in atrocities committed by Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels during Sierra Leone's 1991-2002 civil war.
CHARLES TAYLOR CHARGES
- Violation of humanitarian law: Conscripting child soldiers
- Crimes against humanity: Terrorising civilians, murder, rape, sexual slavery, enslavement
- War crimes: Violence to life and cruel treatment (including hacking off limbs) pillage
18 July 2009 @ 03:28 am
18 July 2009 @ 01:01 pm
+ created for picspammy challange 11
+ screencaps from the oracle
+ please do not hotlink
+ find all my picspams atpink_padora
here @ my journal
picspammy challange 11 + screencaps from the oracle
+ please do not hotlink
+ find all my picspams at
pink_padora here @ my journal
17 July 2009 @ 10:19 pm
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - For years, prosecutors in northeastern Pennsylvania stood by and did nothing as a corrupt judge systematically violated the rights of more than 6,000 youth offenders who appeared in his courtroom, lawyers for some of the children asserted in court Friday.
Prosecutors in the Luzerne County district attorney's office had an obligation to report the judge's conduct, but chose to ignore it because "they wanted to get a conviction at any price," Marsha Levick of the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center said at a hearing to determine how to restore the juveniles' legal rights.
( Read more )
Source
This story upsets the hell out of me as a juvenile PO/counselor.
Feeling: 
distressed
distressed18 July 2009 @ 09:46 am
Questions raised about councilman's conduct after discovery of racist e-mails
By JONAH OWEN LAMB
jlamb@mercedsun-star.com
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article uses language that is offensive but necessary to show a pattern of conduct by an Atwater city councilman.
ATWATER -- In the past several months Atwater City Councilman Gary Frago has sent at least a half-dozen e-mails to city staff and other prominent community members containing racist jokes aimed at President Barack Obama, his wife and black people in general.
In all, the Sun-Star obtained seven e-mails that Frago sent from October 2008 to February 2009 from an anonymous source.
Some compared Obama to O.J. Simpson while others suggested that "nigger rigs" should now be called "presidential solutions."
Perhaps the most overboard e-mail was sent on Jan. 15. It read: "Breaking News Playboy just offered Sarah Palin $1 million to pose nude in the January issue. Michelle Obama got the same offer from National Geographic."
Frago admitted sending the e-mails, but showed no regret. "If they're from me, then I sent them," he said. "I have no disrespect for the president or anybody, they weren't meant in any bad way or harm."
( Frago's excuse? 'I don't see where there's a story, I'm not the only one that does it.' )
--
...siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.
By JONAH OWEN LAMB
jlamb@mercedsun-star.com
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article uses language that is offensive but necessary to show a pattern of conduct by an Atwater city councilman.
ATWATER -- In the past several months Atwater City Councilman Gary Frago has sent at least a half-dozen e-mails to city staff and other prominent community members containing racist jokes aimed at President Barack Obama, his wife and black people in general.
In all, the Sun-Star obtained seven e-mails that Frago sent from October 2008 to February 2009 from an anonymous source.
Some compared Obama to O.J. Simpson while others suggested that "nigger rigs" should now be called "presidential solutions."
Perhaps the most overboard e-mail was sent on Jan. 15. It read: "Breaking News Playboy just offered Sarah Palin $1 million to pose nude in the January issue. Michelle Obama got the same offer from National Geographic."
Frago admitted sending the e-mails, but showed no regret. "If they're from me, then I sent them," he said. "I have no disrespect for the president or anybody, they weren't meant in any bad way or harm."
( Frago's excuse? 'I don't see where there's a story, I'm not the only one that does it.' )
--
...siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.
Listening to: Michael Jackson - Leave Me Alone
17 July 2009 @ 08:19 pm
CONCORD, N.H. – A Massachusetts teenager who spent three nights alone on Mount Washington in April after he sprained an ankle and veered off marked trails has been fined more than $25,000 for the cost of his rescue.
Scott Mason had been praised for utilizing his Eagle Scout skills — sleeping in the crevice of a boulder and jump-starting fires with hand sanitzer gel. But authorities say he wasn't prepared for the conditions he encountered and shouldn't have set out on such an ambitious hike.
( Read more )
Source
While I do feel that he should be fined a certain amount, it's ridiculous to expect him to pay that much in a month.
Scott Mason had been praised for utilizing his Eagle Scout skills — sleeping in the crevice of a boulder and jump-starting fires with hand sanitzer gel. But authorities say he wasn't prepared for the conditions he encountered and shouldn't have set out on such an ambitious hike.
( Read more )
Source
While I do feel that he should be fined a certain amount, it's ridiculous to expect him to pay that much in a month.
17 July 2009 @ 01:32 pm
The Sea of Green has risen once more. Numbers range in the millions and it completely took the regime by surprise.
I debated on updating my last post since I knew I couldn't get an early am post mod accepted in time for it. I decided to wait. It was probably the better decision.
This morning at 3 something am my local time and around noon in Iran, Ayatollah Rafsanjani took the pulpit. On Twitter it was the second highest trend, since HP was top. And the one blog that gave us translations of the sermon crashed, repeatedly. Nico Pitney found an online radio stream of the sermon and so a good majority of us were able to listen to it (there was also fear of crashing it so a good portion stayed off).
It was incredible to hear the people's chants and it was frustrating as hell when connection would get loss and we would listen to the radio host (a Monarchist) speak before we would be reconnected. This radio station was the only way that we could listen to the sermon as it happened. The sermons are usually televised live but they forgo that this morning. Instead it will be shown at 22:00 after all the hooplah.
This is basically what Rafsanjani said:
As usual, Nico has TONS of vids and material.
July 16, 2009 post | July 15, 2009 post | July 14, 2009 post | July 13, 2009 post | July 12, 2009 post | July 11, 2009 post | July 10, 2009 post | July 9, 2009 posts | July 8, 2009 post | July 7, 2009 post | July 6, 2009 post | July 5, 2009 post | July 4, 2009 post
( I wish I could post up all the pictures and vids...but I can't )
I debated on updating my last post since I knew I couldn't get an early am post mod accepted in time for it. I decided to wait. It was probably the better decision.
This morning at 3 something am my local time and around noon in Iran, Ayatollah Rafsanjani took the pulpit. On Twitter it was the second highest trend, since HP was top. And the one blog that gave us translations of the sermon crashed, repeatedly. Nico Pitney found an online radio stream of the sermon and so a good majority of us were able to listen to it (there was also fear of crashing it so a good portion stayed off).
It was incredible to hear the people's chants and it was frustrating as hell when connection would get loss and we would listen to the radio host (a Monarchist) speak before we would be reconnected. This radio station was the only way that we could listen to the sermon as it happened. The sermons are usually televised live but they forgo that this morning. Instead it will be shown at 22:00 after all the hooplah.
This is basically what Rafsanjani said:
Rafsanjani stated in his speech that he wants:
* The journalists back doing their jobs.
* Protestors out of jail
* Media to be run openly and honestly
* The right to protest i.e. the law upheld
* Politicians and clerics to listen to the people
As usual, Nico has TONS of vids and material.
July 16, 2009 post | July 15, 2009 post | July 14, 2009 post | July 13, 2009 post | July 12, 2009 post | July 11, 2009 post | July 10, 2009 post | July 9, 2009 posts | July 8, 2009 post | July 7, 2009 post | July 6, 2009 post | July 5, 2009 post | July 4, 2009 post
( I wish I could post up all the pictures and vids...but I can't )
17 July 2009 @ 07:19 pm
Ultra-orthodox Jews visit Hamas
Four members of a group of ultra-orthodox Jews opposed to the existence of Israel have visited Hamas in Gaza.
The men, clad in the traditional ultra-orthodox garb of black hats and coats and with long side-curls in their hair, met Hamas leader Ismail Haniya.
The Neturei Karta believe that a Jewish state can only be established by the Messiah and thus denounce Israel as heretic and embrace its enemies.
Mr Haniya welcomed them, saying Hamas rejects Zionist ideology, not Jews.
"We feel your suffering, we cry your cry," the Associated Press quoted Rabbi Yisroel Weiss as saying.
"It is your land, it is occupied, illegitimately and unjustly by people who stole it, kidnapped the name of Judaism and our identity."
The representatives entered Gaza, which is under a strict Israeli embargo, with a convoy of activists who travelled through Egypt.
Neturei Karta, Aramaic for "Guardians of the City" was founded some 70 years ago in Jerusalem.
Estimates of the group's size range from a few hundred to a few thousand - some in Israel, others in the UK and US.
Members have praised Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for saying Israel should be erased from the pages of history - sometimes translated as "wiped off the map".
They have also attended a Holocaust denial conference in Tehran and held a prayer vigil for the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as he lay on his death bed.
Mr Haniya described the men as "heroes", according to Palestinian media reports.
"Our problem is with the occupation, that stems from the Zionist ideology and its desire to disperse all the Palestinians," he said.
"Those religious figures that express their objection to the siege, the aggression and the crimes - we can't help but respect them and for their beliefs and their culture."
Israel and most Western countries regard Hamas as a terrorist group and refuse to deal directly with it.
The movement is sworn to the destruction of Israel in its charter and backs attacks on Israeli civilians, although has offered a long-term ceasefire in exchange for a Palestinian state on the full territory of the West Bank and Gaza.
source
Four members of a group of ultra-orthodox Jews opposed to the existence of Israel have visited Hamas in Gaza.
The men, clad in the traditional ultra-orthodox garb of black hats and coats and with long side-curls in their hair, met Hamas leader Ismail Haniya.
The Neturei Karta believe that a Jewish state can only be established by the Messiah and thus denounce Israel as heretic and embrace its enemies.
Mr Haniya welcomed them, saying Hamas rejects Zionist ideology, not Jews.
"We feel your suffering, we cry your cry," the Associated Press quoted Rabbi Yisroel Weiss as saying.
"It is your land, it is occupied, illegitimately and unjustly by people who stole it, kidnapped the name of Judaism and our identity."
The representatives entered Gaza, which is under a strict Israeli embargo, with a convoy of activists who travelled through Egypt.
Neturei Karta, Aramaic for "Guardians of the City" was founded some 70 years ago in Jerusalem.
Estimates of the group's size range from a few hundred to a few thousand - some in Israel, others in the UK and US.
Members have praised Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for saying Israel should be erased from the pages of history - sometimes translated as "wiped off the map".
They have also attended a Holocaust denial conference in Tehran and held a prayer vigil for the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as he lay on his death bed.
Mr Haniya described the men as "heroes", according to Palestinian media reports.
"Our problem is with the occupation, that stems from the Zionist ideology and its desire to disperse all the Palestinians," he said.
"Those religious figures that express their objection to the siege, the aggression and the crimes - we can't help but respect them and for their beliefs and their culture."
Israel and most Western countries regard Hamas as a terrorist group and refuse to deal directly with it.
The movement is sworn to the destruction of Israel in its charter and backs attacks on Israeli civilians, although has offered a long-term ceasefire in exchange for a Palestinian state on the full territory of the West Bank and Gaza.
source
18 July 2009 @ 12:42 pm
+ created for picspammy challange 11
+ screencaps from screencap-paradise
+ please do not hotlink
+ find all my picspams atpink_padora
( The Chosen One pt 1 )
picspammy challange 11 + screencaps from screencap-paradise
+ please do not hotlink
+ find all my picspams at
pink_padora ( The Chosen One pt 1 )
18 July 2009 @ 12:06 pm
.jpg)
18 July 2009 @ 02:07 am
In my opinion, this is a seriously under-rated film, with stunning acting and beautiful cinematography.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW.
Feeling: curious
Listening to: poker face - lady gaga
17 July 2009 @ 04:40 pm
My story takes place in a fantasy world and "Mr.," "Mrs.," and "sir," just don't seem to help create the right mood. Does anyone know what their equivalents were in Medieval England? I know that aristocrats would be addressed by their title, but what would be the polite way for a peasant or merchant to greet a fellow peasant or merchant whom he didn't know, or a child to refer to an adult?
17 July 2009 @ 11:49 am
Time/Place: Britain, 1990-ish to the present
Googled: "British stereotypes", "British regional stereotypes", "stereotypes in Britain", "Manchester stereotypes", "Crawley stereotypes", "West Sussex stereotypes", "Sussex stereotypes", "you know you're from Manchester when", "you know you're from Crawley when", "you know you're from Sussex when"; I also looked through the community's Britain tags.
I'm looking for for the sort of stereotypes modern-day British people would hold about people from other parts of Britain - analogous to the whole "New Yorkers are rude, Vermonters are all hippies, anyone south of the Mason-Dixon line is a hick/redneck" thing in the USA. Specifically, I'm looking for things about Manchester and Crawley, or West Sussex in general if there isn't much specific to Crawley. My google search did turn up some things - some stuff about Manchester on Yahoo Answers and a handful of Facebook groups, but the latter seem to be written by the people who inhabit the given area, which isn't what I'm looking for.
(Information about other regions is welcome as well, of course.)
Thanks!
Googled: "British stereotypes", "British regional stereotypes", "stereotypes in Britain", "Manchester stereotypes", "Crawley stereotypes", "West Sussex stereotypes", "Sussex stereotypes", "you know you're from Manchester when", "you know you're from Crawley when", "you know you're from Sussex when"; I also looked through the community's Britain tags.
I'm looking for for the sort of stereotypes modern-day British people would hold about people from other parts of Britain - analogous to the whole "New Yorkers are rude, Vermonters are all hippies, anyone south of the Mason-Dixon line is a hick/redneck" thing in the USA. Specifically, I'm looking for things about Manchester and Crawley, or West Sussex in general if there isn't much specific to Crawley. My google search did turn up some things - some stuff about Manchester on Yahoo Answers and a handful of Facebook groups, but the latter seem to be written by the people who inhabit the given area, which isn't what I'm looking for.
(Information about other regions is welcome as well, of course.)
Thanks!
17 July 2009 @ 08:32 pm
(CBS) Walter Cronkite, who personified television journalism for more than a generation as anchor and managing editor of the "CBS Evening News," has died Friday night in New York. He was 92.
Known for his steady and straightforward delivery, his trim moustache, and his iconic sign-off line -"That’s the way it is" - Cronkite dominated the television news industry during one of the most volatile periods of American history. He broke the news of the Kennedy assassination, reported extensively on Vietnam and Civil Rights and Watergate, and seemed to be the very embodiment of TV journalism.
"Cronkite came to be the sort of personification of his era," veteran PBS Correspondent Robert McNeil once said. "He became kind of the media figure of his time. Very few people in history, except maybe political and military leaders, are the embodiment of their time, and Cronkite seemed to be."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/0
( Some Cronkite footage under cut )
17 July 2009 @ 08:14 pm
Subject: farmer!Jared & llama!Jensen
Rating: G
Notes: Abandoned WIP forj2_everafter, based on The Emperor's New Groove. I'd planned to make several panels à la Misfortune Cookie but never got beyond this one. This is NOT SLASH. Uhm, not when Jensen is in llama form, anyway. D: lol.
( 'No touchy!' says the llama. )
Rating: G
Notes: Abandoned WIP for
j2_everafter, based on The Emperor's New Groove. I'd planned to make several panels à la Misfortune Cookie but never got beyond this one. This is NOT SLASH. Uhm, not when Jensen is in llama form, anyway. D: lol.( 'No touchy!' says the llama. )
Listening to: 소녀시대 - 여자친구 (Girlfriend)
17 July 2009 @ 08:05 pm
Obviously, Hipsters Are Getting Rid of Their Eyebrows Because of the Economy
Tight pants, short shorts, fedoras, pierced septums — these trends will no longer separate one hipster from another. So they're shaving and bleaching their eyebrows! What else would they do? They can't even shave half their heads anymore — Alice Dellal and Cassie have done that. So: eyebrows. What purpose do they serve, really? All they do is keep a person from looking creepy. And if you don't look creepy, you must not be fashionable.
“I get a lot of stares,” said [eyebrow-less] Mr. Toro, who wasn’t immediately recognized by his friends that evening, his face had changed so much. “But it’s cool because they are perplexed looks instead of something hateful.”
( Read more... )
Tight pants, short shorts, fedoras, pierced septums — these trends will no longer separate one hipster from another. So they're shaving and bleaching their eyebrows! What else would they do? They can't even shave half their heads anymore — Alice Dellal and Cassie have done that. So: eyebrows. What purpose do they serve, really? All they do is keep a person from looking creepy. And if you don't look creepy, you must not be fashionable.
“I get a lot of stares,” said [eyebrow-less] Mr. Toro, who wasn’t immediately recognized by his friends that evening, his face had changed so much. “But it’s cool because they are perplexed looks instead of something hateful.”
( Read more... )
Feeling: 
amused
amused17 July 2009 @ 07:15 pm
Rep. Dennis Kucinich passes amendment to let states establish their own health care programs
Cleveland Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich struck a blow towards his goal of establishing a national government-run health care program by attaching a provision to health care reform legislation that would let states create their own health care programs.
Kucinich's amendment, which the House Education and Labor Committee adopted in a 27-19 vote, would relieve states from a provision in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act that lets the federal government block state programs that impinge on employer-based health care plans.
Kucinich's office says legislators in several states, including New York, California and Kansas, want to launch state-run plans, and his amendment will clear their path.
"A single payer health care plan is the best and most tested way to provide health care for eeryone while increasing quality and controlling costs," Kucinich said in a press release.
Three House committees are concurrently drafting health care reform legislation. Kucinich spokesman Nathan White said their efforts will be put together in a joint bill that will hopefully contain Kucinich's amendment. In the Senate, the measure would likely have support from single payer health care backers like Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
"The congressman still wants a national single payer plan, but that's been taken off the table by the administration," said White. "This is a way to keep it as an option for states that want to implement it."
source
Cleveland Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich struck a blow towards his goal of establishing a national government-run health care program by attaching a provision to health care reform legislation that would let states create their own health care programs.
Kucinich's amendment, which the House Education and Labor Committee adopted in a 27-19 vote, would relieve states from a provision in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act that lets the federal government block state programs that impinge on employer-based health care plans.
Kucinich's office says legislators in several states, including New York, California and Kansas, want to launch state-run plans, and his amendment will clear their path.
"A single payer health care plan is the best and most tested way to provide health care for eeryone while increasing quality and controlling costs," Kucinich said in a press release.
Three House committees are concurrently drafting health care reform legislation. Kucinich spokesman Nathan White said their efforts will be put together in a joint bill that will hopefully contain Kucinich's amendment. In the Senate, the measure would likely have support from single payer health care backers like Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
"The congressman still wants a national single payer plan, but that's been taken off the table by the administration," said White. "This is a way to keep it as an option for states that want to implement it."
source
17 July 2009 @ 07:36 pm
17 July 2009 @ 03:40 pm
17 July 2009 @ 04:39 pm
Two-and-half weeks ago, actor Kirstie Alley, famed of ’80s TV sitcom Cheers, Jenny Craig weight loss ads, and sashaying in her hosiery on Oprah, told me, on Twitter, that African-Americans and Italians are “more free and fun and light hearted” than, I guess, people who aren’t African-American or Italian.
When she said this, I was actually dumbfounded. Twice, it turned out. Figuring out what to say, however, became my own mini-education in talking about race.
This is a rather long read and it has too many pictures for me to post it in full, but I urge you all to check it out. It really IS an education in talking about race - and if nothing else, the (still!) ongoing train wreck is fascinating. What basically happened is that Kirstie Alley made a racial comment (not to be confused with a racist comment). When Harry Allen (the writer who is calling her on it) asks her why she would say such a thing, she made ANOTHER stupid comment. Now Harry has this dilemma:
I talk a fair amount about race, and feel I have a range when speaking about it. I could go really soft, be nice, and perhaps not make my point. I’d go out like a chump, which would be embarrassing.
Or, I could go really hard, drop some counter-racist science, and squash Alley, rhetorically, like a bug. If I did this too hard, though, I probably would not be understood by Alley.
As a child and in my adolescence, living in the heart of New York’s Neapolitan ghetto, I never heard an Italian singing. None of the grown-ups I knew were charming or loving or understanding. Rather they seemed coarse, vulgar and insulting. And so later in my life when I was exposed to all the cliches of lovable Italians, singing Italians, happy-go-lucky Italians, I wondered where the hell the moviemakers and storywriters got all their ideas from.
Dammit, SOMEBODY had to speak for the Italians. :p
source hates it when white people I love do some sorry shit like this
*edit* Oh. Wow. Well, you can't say he didn't try.
When she said this, I was actually dumbfounded. Twice, it turned out. Figuring out what to say, however, became my own mini-education in talking about race.
This is a rather long read and it has too many pictures for me to post it in full, but I urge you all to check it out. It really IS an education in talking about race - and if nothing else, the (still!) ongoing train wreck is fascinating. What basically happened is that Kirstie Alley made a racial comment (not to be confused with a racist comment). When Harry Allen (the writer who is calling her on it) asks her why she would say such a thing, she made ANOTHER stupid comment. Now Harry has this dilemma:
I talk a fair amount about race, and feel I have a range when speaking about it. I could go really soft, be nice, and perhaps not make my point. I’d go out like a chump, which would be embarrassing.
Or, I could go really hard, drop some counter-racist science, and squash Alley, rhetorically, like a bug. If I did this too hard, though, I probably would not be understood by Alley.
Also, because many Black people often feel a need to protect white people when white people are made uncomfortable by a Black person, many Black people would come to her aid, and possibly turn against me.
___
I'll stop there, because you really have to see where the conversation goes. It's practically a lesson in What Not to Do When You're Called on Your Shit. This is the source of frustration (and - GASP - even anger!) for a lot of people of color. You have your people like me, who don't give half a hump if you "get it" or not, and will gladly cut you down to size for my personal amusement and Twitter it to all my friends. Then you have the Harry Allens and the ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
karnythias and the Jay Smooths of the world, who will actually sit down and break it down to you in hopes that you'll understand where they're coming from. The problem is, we all get treated the same way when the message some people want to receive isn't the same message that's being transmitted - or even worse, if it's done in a tone that they just don't like. Maybe now some people will be able to see why some of us are so frustrated and some of us just don't fucking care about your path to racial enlightenment one way or the other. Contrary to popular belief, it's our right to feel either way.
As a child and in my adolescence, living in the heart of New York’s Neapolitan ghetto, I never heard an Italian singing. None of the grown-ups I knew were charming or loving or understanding. Rather they seemed coarse, vulgar and insulting. And so later in my life when I was exposed to all the cliches of lovable Italians, singing Italians, happy-go-lucky Italians, I wondered where the hell the moviemakers and storywriters got all their ideas from.
Dammit, SOMEBODY had to speak for the Italians. :p
source hates it when white people I love do some sorry shit like this
*edit* Oh. Wow. Well, you can't say he didn't try.
Feeling: sympathetic to the cause
Listening to: Pull Up to the Bumper, Patra
18 July 2009 @ 02:19 am
Listening to: Gal Costa - Ruas de Outono
17 July 2009 @ 05:54 pm
The late night cookie seduction. So hard to resist.
**********************************
The t-shirts are back from the printers! I'll process and mail them out this weekend. Hooray!
17 July 2009 @ 05:16 pm
17 July 2009 @ 03:17 pm
Talk about a morning buzz.
Recession-hit Starbucks is going from being a coffee bar to a real bar under a new plan to add beer and wine to its menu of coffee and tea.
People will soon be able to order a venti beer as the struggling Seattle-based coffeehouse chain hopes to add new drinkers to its ranks, USA Today reported today.
The chain will add wine and beer to the menu at one of its Seattle stores, which it has even given a new name. The store, which opens next week, will be called "15th Ave. Coffee and Tea inspired by Starbucks."
The company plans to create two more similar stores in the Seattle-area at locations that aren't currently Starbucks stores.
If the concept catches on, selling coffee and beer could be tested in other cities, Major Cohen, senior project manager at Starbucks, told USA Today. Cohen said he didn't yet know if the concept would be incorporated into all Starbucks stores if it's successful.
Under the pilot-program, the store will serve a half-dozen kinds of beers and wines. A bottle of beer or a glass of wine will sell for $4 to $7.
"We'll be equally as proud of our beer and wine as we are of our coffee," said Cohen.
Alcoholic source
I manage to live in one of the few places without a Starbucks, amazingly enough. I have been unimpressed when I have tripped over them. (and I did in fact see one kitty-corner to one across in intersection while traveling at one point) But I may be spoiled, since I am literally next door to a coffee roaster. The 140 pound sacks come in, he roasts 'em, and OMFG, is good coffee. So fresh it tastes totally unlike the stuff you get at a chain. I still like tea better, but now I see why people are all crazy over coffee.
Recession-hit Starbucks is going from being a coffee bar to a real bar under a new plan to add beer and wine to its menu of coffee and tea.
People will soon be able to order a venti beer as the struggling Seattle-based coffeehouse chain hopes to add new drinkers to its ranks, USA Today reported today.
The chain will add wine and beer to the menu at one of its Seattle stores, which it has even given a new name. The store, which opens next week, will be called "15th Ave. Coffee and Tea inspired by Starbucks."
The company plans to create two more similar stores in the Seattle-area at locations that aren't currently Starbucks stores.
If the concept catches on, selling coffee and beer could be tested in other cities, Major Cohen, senior project manager at Starbucks, told USA Today. Cohen said he didn't yet know if the concept would be incorporated into all Starbucks stores if it's successful.
Under the pilot-program, the store will serve a half-dozen kinds of beers and wines. A bottle of beer or a glass of wine will sell for $4 to $7.
"We'll be equally as proud of our beer and wine as we are of our coffee," said Cohen.
Alcoholic source
I manage to live in one of the few places without a Starbucks, amazingly enough. I have been unimpressed when I have tripped over them. (and I did in fact see one kitty-corner to one across in intersection while traveling at one point) But I may be spoiled, since I am literally next door to a coffee roaster. The 140 pound sacks come in, he roasts 'em, and OMFG, is good coffee. So fresh it tastes totally unlike the stuff you get at a chain. I still like tea better, but now I see why people are all crazy over coffee.
17 July 2009 @ 03:27 pm
Mitch McConnell Announces Opposition To Sotomayor
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced on Friday that he would oppose the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor.
The opposition is expected. The Kentucky Republican, in fact, isn't the first GOP Senator to announce his no vote -- Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said he would vote against Obama's pick for the court back in late May.
In doing so, McConnell emphasized the same charge that Sotomayor has spent the last four days of hearings trying to diffuse: Mainly, that she would put empathy above objective and life experiences above jurisprudence.
"If, however, Judge Sotomayor were to become a Supreme Court Justice, there would be no backstop," McConnell stated, in a portion of his speech highlighted by his office. "Her rulings would be final. She'd be unencumbered by the obligation of lower court judges to follow precedent. She could act more freely on the kinds of views that animated her troubling and legally incorrect ruling in the Ricci case. That's not a chance I'm willing to take."
Below are his full remarks:
"From the beginning of this confirmation process, I've said that Americans expect one thing when they walk into a court room, whether it's a traffic court or the Supreme Court -- and that's equal treatment under the law. Over the years, Americans have accepted significant ideological differences in the kinds of men and women that various presidents have nominated to the Supreme Court. But one thing Americans will never tolerate in a nominee is a belief that some groups are more deserving of a fair shake than others. Nothing could be more offensive to the American sensibility than that. Judge Sotomayor is a fine person with an impressive story and a distinguished background. But above all else, a judge must check his or her personal or political agenda at the courtroom door and do justice even-handedly, as the judicial oath requires.
"Judge Sotomayor's record of written statements suggest an alarming lack of respect for the notion of equal justice, and therefore, in my view, an insufficient willingness to abide by the judicial oath. This is particularly important when considering someone for the Supreme Court since, if she were confirmed, there would be no higher court to deter or prevent her from injecting into the law the various disconcerting principles that recur throughout her public statements. For that reason, I will oppose her nomination.
"In her writings and in her speeches, Judge Sotomayor has repeatedly stated that a judge's personal experiences affect judicial outcomes. She has said her experiences will affect the facts that she chooses to see as a judge. She has argued that in deciding cases judges should bring their sympathies and prejudices to bear. She has dismissed the ideal of judicial impartiality as an 'aspiration' that, in her view, cannot be met even in most cases. Taken together, these statements suggest not just a sense that impartiality is not possible, but that it's not even worth the effort.
"Judge Sotomayor's record on the Second Circuit is troubling enough. But, as I said, at least on the Circuit Court, there's a backstop. Her cases can be reviewed by the Supreme Court. This meant that in the Ricci case, for example, the firefighters whose promotions were unfairly denied could appeal the decision. Fortunately for them, the Supreme Court sided with them over Judge Sotomayor. If, however, Judge Sotomayor were to become a Supreme Court Justice, there would be no backstop. Her rulings would be final. She'd be unencumbered by the obligation of lower court judges to follow precedent. She could act more freely on the kinds of views that animated her troubling and legally incorrect ruling in the Ricci case. That's not a chance I'm willing to take."
"Judge Sotomayor's record of written statements suggest an alarming lack of respect for the notion of equal justice, and therefore, in my view, an insufficient willingness to abide by the judicial oath. This is particularly important when considering someone for the Supreme Court since, if she were confirmed, there would be no higher court to deter or prevent her from injecting into the law the various disconcerting principles that recur throughout her public statements. For that reason, I will oppose her nomination.
"In her writings and in her speeches, Judge Sotomayor has repeatedly stated that a judge's personal experiences affect judicial outcomes. She has said her experiences will affect the facts that she chooses to see as a judge. She has argued that in deciding cases judges should bring their sympathies and prejudices to bear. She has dismissed the ideal of judicial impartiality as an 'aspiration' that, in her view, cannot be met even in most cases. Taken together, these statements suggest not just a sense that impartiality is not possible, but that it's not even worth the effort.
"Judge Sotomayor's record on the Second Circuit is troubling enough. But, as I said, at least on the Circuit Court, there's a backstop. Her cases can be reviewed by the Supreme Court. This meant that in the Ricci case, for example, the firefighters whose promotions were unfairly denied could appeal the decision. Fortunately for them, the Supreme Court sided with them over Judge Sotomayor. If, however, Judge Sotomayor were to become a Supreme Court Justice, there would be no backstop. Her rulings would be final. She'd be unencumbered by the obligation of lower court judges to follow precedent. She could act more freely on the kinds of views that animated her troubling and legally incorrect ruling in the Ricci case. That's not a chance I'm willing to take."
Source
Oh, FFS. DIAF plz.
17 July 2009 @ 03:10 pm
17 July 2009 @ 04:45 pm
This morning, hundreds of Amazon Kindle owners awoke to discover that books by a certain famous author had mysteriously disappeared from their e-book readers. These were books that they had bought and paid for—thought they owned.
But no, apparently the publisher changed its mind about offering an electronic edition, and apparently Amazon, whose business lives and dies by publisher happiness, caved. It electronically deleted all books by this author from people’s Kindles and credited their accounts for the price.
This is ugly for all kinds of reasons. Amazon says that this sort of thing is “rare,” but that it can happen at all is unsettling; we’ve been taught to believe that e-books are, you know, just like books, only better. Already, we’ve learned that they’re not really like books, in that once we’re finished reading them, we can’t resell or even donate them. But now we learn that all sales may not even be final.
As one of my readers noted, it’s like Barnes & Noble sneaking into our homes in the middle of the night, taking some books that we’ve been reading off our nightstands, and leaving us a check on the coffee table.
You want to know the best part? The juicy, plump, dripping irony?
The author who was the victim of this Big Brotherish plot was none other than George Orwell. And the books were “1984” and “Animal Farm.”
Source
And slight sidejaunt, for those annoyed with Amazon shenanigans (remember Amazon fail?), you can search 20+ US and international book sites with a single search through http://www.addall.com which will pull from thousands of individual independent dealers, both in print and out of print. My favorite of the gateways in Biblio.com which carbon offsets all the shipping of books.
EDIT
#amazonfail is back in use on Twitter People are not amused by Amazon shenanigans
But no, apparently the publisher changed its mind about offering an electronic edition, and apparently Amazon, whose business lives and dies by publisher happiness, caved. It electronically deleted all books by this author from people’s Kindles and credited their accounts for the price.
This is ugly for all kinds of reasons. Amazon says that this sort of thing is “rare,” but that it can happen at all is unsettling; we’ve been taught to believe that e-books are, you know, just like books, only better. Already, we’ve learned that they’re not really like books, in that once we’re finished reading them, we can’t resell or even donate them. But now we learn that all sales may not even be final.
As one of my readers noted, it’s like Barnes & Noble sneaking into our homes in the middle of the night, taking some books that we’ve been reading off our nightstands, and leaving us a check on the coffee table.
You want to know the best part? The juicy, plump, dripping irony?
The author who was the victim of this Big Brotherish plot was none other than George Orwell. And the books were “1984” and “Animal Farm.”
Source
And slight sidejaunt, for those annoyed with Amazon shenanigans (remember Amazon fail?), you can search 20+ US and international book sites with a single search through http://www.addall.com which will pull from thousands of individual independent dealers, both in print and out of print. My favorite of the gateways in Biblio.com which carbon offsets all the shipping of books.
EDIT
#amazonfail is back in use on Twitter People are not amused by Amazon shenanigans
17 July 2009 @ 05:39 pm
17 July 2009 @ 11:29 am
del.icio.us 
digg 
facebook 
reddit 
stumbleupon 17 July 2009 @ 09:06 pm
Where Merlin did indeed take him apart with one (telekinetic) blow.
Credit.
17 July 2009 @ 04:09 pm
17 July 2009 @ 10:41 pm
1 ] Do not claim my work as your wn
2 ] Do not edit for graphics
3 ] Comments are love so please comment atsns_red_curtain
4 ] Trailer screencaps were made by mesns_red_curtain
5 ] My children. Warms my blood to see you all gathered plotting against me.
2 ] Do not edit for graphics
3 ] Comments are love so please comment at
sns_red_curtain 4 ] Trailer screencaps were made by me
sns_red_curtain 5 ] My children. Warms my blood to see you all gathered plotting against me.
Feeling: bitchy
17 July 2009 @ 10:31 pm
1 ] Do not claim my work as your wn
2 ] Do not edit for graphics
3 ] Comments are love so please comment atsns_red_curtain
4 ] Trailer screencaps were made by mesns_red_curtain
5 ] It is a strange thing to discover and to believe that you are loved especially if you know that there is nothing in you but for a parent or a god to love.
community.livejournal.com/sns_red_curtai
2 ] Do not edit for graphics
3 ] Comments are love so please comment at
sns_red_curtain 4 ] Trailer screencaps were made by me
sns_red_curtain 5 ] It is a strange thing to discover and to believe that you are loved especially if you know that there is nothing in you but for a parent or a god to love.
Feeling: weird
17 July 2009 @ 02:59 pm
"Men say I am a saint losing himself in LOLitics. The fact is that I am a LOLitician trying my hardest to become a saint."--LOLhatma Gandhi
Please exploit these resources:MOAR Picture Sources:
- DAYLIFE (ALL)
- NEWSDAY (ALL)
- ZIMBIO (GOP/Democrats)
- CHICAGO TRIBUNE (ALL)
- The White House Flicker photostream
by
aissle17 July 2009 @ 02:23 pm
16 July 2009 @ 03:50 pm
Meta wank of the sweetest kind. 2010 Readercon is being advertised as "This IS your father's con". Needless to say, this is not met with huzzahs. Catherynne M. Valente proposes an alternative to the 2010 Readercon--a gathering of fans at her island place. The man who has singlehandedly run programming for Readercon for 20 years immediately responds with you are wrong and escalates from there, with you are very young or possibly foreign, and my personal favorite, you have to have a score of at least 790 on the analytical section of the GRE to do programming for Readercon. Many people laugh at him. Eric Van says he is no longer responding to stupid comments, and then copy&pastes his everyone IMPORTANT loved us comment everywhere he can find.
(Read more ...)
(Read more ...)
17 July 2009 @ 07:44 pm
I'm looking for a famous Japanese children's TV program for my characters to refer to, ideally something with an "educational" segment explaining/showing something – so basically, the Japanese equivalent of "Sesame Street" or "Sendung mit der Maus".
The characters are in their mid-twenties today and so were most likely watching kid's programs in the late 80s and early 90s. If possible, though, I'd prefer a show with cult-status that is either still on air today or is re-broadcast fairly frequently.
I’ve tried googling various permutations of "Japanese children's TV program", but have found it really difficult to locate something that fits the right time frame, has an educational element, and is well-known enough for my purposes.
Thank you very much for your help!
The characters are in their mid-twenties today and so were most likely watching kid's programs in the late 80s and early 90s. If possible, though, I'd prefer a show with cult-status that is either still on air today or is re-broadcast fairly frequently.
I’ve tried googling various permutations of "Japanese children's TV program", but have found it really difficult to locate something that fits the right time frame, has an educational element, and is well-known enough for my purposes.
Thank you very much for your help!
17 July 2009 @ 10:25 am
Washington Post- A Republican proposal to halt spending on federal stimulus projects has prompted a partisan dustup this week in Arizona, where defeated GOP presidential candidate John McCain has waded into the fight with his old Democratic rival, Barack Obama.
The conflict began after Arizona's junior senator, Republican Jon Kyl, who has called President Obama's economic recovery plan ineffective, wrote on his Senate website last week that the government should "cancel the rest of the stimulus spending." Kyl repeated the suggestion during a talk show appearance Sunday.
The Obama administration responded Monday with letters from four Cabinet secretaries to the state's GOP governor, Jan Brewer, outlining the transportation, housing, education and other projects that would be canceled in Arizona if stimulus spending came to a halt.
"If you prefer to forfeit the money we are making available to your state, please let us know," wrote Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a fellow Republican and former House member...
(MOAR! MOAR! MOAR!)
(Tell Senator Kyl to STFU)
BAM!!! Take that!!!
17 July 2009 @ 01:25 pm
July 17, 2009
Obama Tells Fellow Blacks: ‘No Excuses’ for Failure
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
President Obama delivered a fiery sermon to black America on Thursday night, warning black parents that they must accept their own responsibilities by “putting away the Xbox and putting our kids to bed at a reasonable hour,” and telling black children that growing up poor is no reason to get bad grades.
“No one has written your destiny for you,” he said, directing his remarks to “all the other Barack Obamas out there” who might one day grow up to be president. “Your destiny is in your hands, and don’t you forget that. That’s what we have to teach all of our children! No excuses! No excuses!”
( More preaching to the choir )
Obama Tells Fellow Blacks: ‘No Excuses’ for Failure
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
President Obama delivered a fiery sermon to black America on Thursday night, warning black parents that they must accept their own responsibilities by “putting away the Xbox and putting our kids to bed at a reasonable hour,” and telling black children that growing up poor is no reason to get bad grades.
“No one has written your destiny for you,” he said, directing his remarks to “all the other Barack Obamas out there” who might one day grow up to be president. “Your destiny is in your hands, and don’t you forget that. That’s what we have to teach all of our children! No excuses! No excuses!”
( More preaching to the choir )
17 July 2009 @ 12:46 pm
It's Saturday night. Three young women are dressed to the nines at a trendy bistro on Rush Street in downtown Chicago. They're having drinks outside on the kind of summer night that makes you fall in love with the city.
"They call this 'Viagra triangle,'" Lindsay Avner says, to peals of laughter.
On this night, these twentysomethings aren't thinking about flirting, though. They are thinking about issues most women their age don't: life insurance and freezing their eggs.
( Read more... )
Source.
"They call this 'Viagra triangle,'" Lindsay Avner says, to peals of laughter.
On this night, these twentysomethings aren't thinking about flirting, though. They are thinking about issues most women their age don't: life insurance and freezing their eggs.
( Read more... )
Source.
17 July 2009 @ 11:55 am
I'm uncluttering my flist/profile by unfriending all of the dead journals or ones where people hardly ever update.
I saw the midnight showing of Harry Potter but... I don't really have any thoughts? I liked it, but I'm not a huge fan of that book (and only read it once. when it came out. so I don't really remember it). I'm going to see it again at the IMAX, so maybe I'll have something to say then.
I saw the midnight showing of Harry Potter but... I don't really have any thoughts? I liked it, but I'm not a huge fan of that book (and only read it once. when it came out. so I don't really remember it). I'm going to see it again at the IMAX, so maybe I'll have something to say then.
Current Location: home
Feeling: 
sleepy
sleepy17 July 2009 @ 11:54 am
Chip Pickering's Wife Claims He Had Affair
JACKSON, Miss. — The estranged wife of former U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering claims in a lawsuit that the Mississippi Republican had an affair that ruined their marriage and derailed his political career.
Leisha Pickering said in the lawsuit filed this week that her husband and the woman dated in college, reconnected and began having an affair while he was in Congress and living in a building where several Christian lawmakers reside on C Street near the U.S. Capitol. Chip Pickering is the third Republican with ties to the building at 133 C Street SE to find his personal life making headlines in recent weeks, after Nevada U.S. Sen. John Ensign and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.
Leisha Pickering is seeking unspecified damages in the alienation of affection lawsuit she filed this week against Elizabeth Creekmore Byrd of Jackson. The Pickerings filed for divorce in June 2008, but it is not complete.
Chip Pickering, 45, was elected to Congress in 1996, retired in January and is now a lobbyist in Washington for Cellular South, the company Creekmore Byrd's family owns. The lawsuit does not say when the affair started.
He said in a statement Thursday that his marriage is irreparably damaged.
( Rest is under the cut )
Source
So, not only is he another of the "C Street" brethren who apparently have "Thou shalt screw around on Thy wife" as a commandment, but he also was working as a lobbyist for the company that his mistress' family owns?? That's just......wow. I'm almost impressed at the utter nerve that takes.
17 July 2009 @ 11:41 am
Mark Sanford: "Frugal" Gov Flew First Class On State's Budget And Lied About It: AP Investigation
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford shed his fiscal conservatism on several taxpayer-funded international trips, including a South American jaunt that included time with his mistress, choosing expensive first-class or business-class seats while his aides sat in coach.
Sanford, who once criticized other state officials for costly travel, charged the state more than $37,600 for one first-class and four business-class flights overseas since November 2005, expense records show. Other state employees flew in the back of the plane at a fraction of the price, according to the documents.
The Republican governor, who balked at taking federal stimulus money after arguing it was an unwise use of taxpayer funds, charged the state $8,687 for a Delta Airlines trip to Brazil last year that included a leg in business class, state expense records show.
That trip ended with the governor's now well-publicized visit to his Argentine mistress, Maria Belen Chapur, and marked what he says was the start of a nearly year-long sexual affair with the woman he's called his "soul mate."
Other state employees spent less than $2,000 each on economy seats for the Brazil flight, according to the records, released by two state agencies under South Carolina's Freedom of Information Act.
( Rest is under the cut )
Source
Popcorn gifs, anyone?
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford shed his fiscal conservatism on several taxpayer-funded international trips, including a South American jaunt that included time with his mistress, choosing expensive first-class or business-class seats while his aides sat in coach.
Sanford, who once criticized other state officials for costly travel, charged the state more than $37,600 for one first-class and four business-class flights overseas since November 2005, expense records show. Other state employees flew in the back of the plane at a fraction of the price, according to the documents.
The Republican governor, who balked at taking federal stimulus money after arguing it was an unwise use of taxpayer funds, charged the state $8,687 for a Delta Airlines trip to Brazil last year that included a leg in business class, state expense records show.
That trip ended with the governor's now well-publicized visit to his Argentine mistress, Maria Belen Chapur, and marked what he says was the start of a nearly year-long sexual affair with the woman he's called his "soul mate."
Other state employees spent less than $2,000 each on economy seats for the Brazil flight, according to the records, released by two state agencies under South Carolina's Freedom of Information Act.
( Rest is under the cut )
Source
Popcorn gifs, anyone?