Steve’s Weblog

Texas arresting people in bars for being drunk

Wed Mar 22, 6:05 PM ET

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) – Texas has begun sending undercover agents into bars to arrest drinkers for being drunk, a spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said on Wednesday.

Yahoo News

…including Kay Bailey Hutchison. Which kind of figures, the woman is a classic bushbot, incapable of original thought. I have a stack of unopened response letters on my desk from her. There’s not much point in opening them, they just prove she doesn’t listen to constituents. Each one will regurgitate the issue, ignore all the reasons you gave for taking your position, then tell you she’s doing whatever she wants anyway.

So, on to Social Security privatization, an issue that most Amreicans think sucks, but she voted for it. What does she care, it’s not like she’ll need Social Security when she retires, and as far as I’m concerned, she could retire this November, if it weren’t for the fact that a majority of Texans are foolish enough to vote her in for another term

The President’s plan to privatize Social Security was strongly opposed by the American public last year. Americans of all political stripes – Democrats, Republicans and Independents – rejected the plan because they recognized its serious flaws. It cuts benefits, increases the deficit, and makes retirement much less secure for senior citizens.

This was a case where the American people got a chance to take a good, long look at an idea, and make up their own mind. And the more we looked, the less we liked.

But despite this strong public and bipartisan opposition, the Administration has not given up on the idea. Although we have not heard a lot about it in public, the Administration quietly slid a proposal to move forward with privatization into the 2007 budget.

Magic City News

Bush Using Straw-Man Arguments in Speeches – Yahoo! News

Bush Using Straw-Man Arguments in Speeches

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer Sat Mar 18, 12:52 PM ET

WASHINGTON – “Some look at the challenges in Iraq and conclude that the war is lost and not worth another dime or another day,” President Bush said recently.

Another time he said, “Some say that if you’re Muslim you can’t be free.”

“There are some really decent people,” the president said earlier this year, “who believe that the federal government ought to be the decider of health care … for all people.”

Of course, hardly anyone in mainstream political debate has made such assertions.

When the president starts a sentence with “some say” or offers up what “some in Washington” believe, as he is doing more often these days, a rhetorical retort almost assuredly follows.

The device usually is code for Democrats or other White House opponents. In describing what they advocate, Bush often omits an important nuance or substitutes an extreme stance that bears little resemblance to their actual position.

He typically then says he “strongly disagrees” — conveniently knocking down a straw man of his own making.

Bush routinely is criticized for dressing up events with a too-rosy glow. But experts in political speech say the straw man device, in which the president makes himself appear entirely reasonable by contrast to supposed “critics,” is just as problematic.

Because the “some” often go unnamed, Bush can argue that his statements are true in an era of blogs and talk radio. Even so, “’some’ suggests a number much larger than is actually out there,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

A specialist in presidential rhetoric, Wayne Fields of Washington University in St. Louis, views it as “a bizarre kind of double talk” that abuses the rules of legitimate discussion.

The Extreme Blue(TM) internship experience combines great talent and cutting edge technology to drive innovation. Through the program, interns have filed over 270 patent disclosures, helping to create solutions for key clients and bring-to-market the next generation of IBM products.

Unlike other intern programs that may relegate a student to work on outdated technology, Extreme Blue interns work on leading technology that helps grow your skills and make you a more attractive candidate in the technology field. Interns in this high performance environment get to roll up their sleeves and work with “hot” technology like Linux, Grid computing, RFID and Web Services.

Extreme Blue teams are like mini-businesses that must solve a problem or create a solution for a client. Interns work in small project teams that include business and technical students, along with IBM mentors. This combination creates a team dynamic that fosters collaboration and helps interns create both a business and technical case for a project while setting aggressive goals to ensure the end deliverable is “extreme” enough to survive a competitive marketplace. IBM mentors work with each team and serve as guides to help them identify and access appropriate IBM resources to produce better solutions.

In short, the Extreme Blue experience is challenging, competitive, and empowers interns to Start something BIG! For more information and to apply, visit ibm.com/extremeblue.

We are seeking candidates with advanced skills, experience and passion for business and technology.

Minimum qualifications include:
* exceptional software development skills in Java, C and/or C++
* 6 months previous software development experience in a commercial, research or open source setting (equivalent of 2 summer internships)
* the ability to turn ideas into reality in a team environment
* past history of contribution beyond assigned roles

Common skill typically include:
1) Java, J2EE, Web Services
2) Java, Eclipse, Intelligent Systems
3) HCI, GUI Design
4) C/C++, Linux
5) Pervasive Devices, XML, HCI
6) Grid / GLOBUS Toolkit, Distributed Systems
7) DB2, JDBC, Database Administration

In addition, we also look for the following qualities:
* active contribution to professional communities (i.e. NSBE, SHPE, SWE, Women in CS, AISES, ACM, IEEE, etc..)
* participation in academic competitions (ACM programming contest, Thinkquest, etc..)
* giving back to the technical community through teaching, mentoring or tutoring experience

IBM is focused on hiring top talent upon graduation. As a result, priority is given to candidates who are within 12 months of
their graduation date. We welcome all interested students to apply by completing a technical application on our website at: http://www.ibm.com/extremeblue.

AFA, 18 Other Groups Call for Boycott of Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company will continue funding homosexual groups which are pushing homosexual marriage.

Ford had agreed to stop funding the groups in a meeting with AFA on Nov. 28. But when confronted by a group of homosexual leaders about the decision, Ford reneged on the agreement with AFA and announced they would continue their funding.

For the past three months, AFA has been trying to get Ford to honor their agreement but Ford has refused.

Bigoted Fundamentalist organizations endorsing the boycott of Ford include:

American Family Association
Center for Reclaiming America
Citizens for Community Values
Vision America
Free Market Foundation
WIN Family Services
Liberty Counsel
CatholicVote.org
Point of View Radio
Coalitions for America
Mayday for Marriage
RealMarriage.org
Judeo-Christian Council
Constituent Voice
Faith2Action
Coalition for Marriage and Family
ConservativeHQ.com
Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.
National Association of Marriage Enhancement

AFA

With all the boycotts AFA is supporting, is there anything left to buy or anywhere you can safely go? just asking….

More and more I find Pat Robertson ‘Lunatic’.

Robertson Finds Radical Muslims ‘Satanic’ – Yahoo! News

By SONJA BARISIC, Associated Press Writer 23 minutes ago

NORFOLK, Va. – Television evangelist Pat Robertson said Monday on his live news-and-talk program “The 700 Club” that Islam is not a religion of peace, and that radical Muslims are “satanic.”

Robertson’s comments came after he watched a news story on his Christian Broadcasting Network about Muslim protests in Europe over the cartoon drawings of the Prophet Muhammad.

He remarked that the outpouring of rage elicited by cartoons “just shows the kind of people we’re dealing with. These people are crazed fanatics, and I want to say it now: I believe it’s motivated by demonic power. It is satanic and it’s time we recognize what we’re dealing with.”

Robertson also said that “the goal of Islam, ladies and gentlemen, whether you like it or not, is world domination.”

– –

Kind of like “Dr. Evil” in the Austin Powers movie series? Maybe the problem isn’t world domination, per se, but competition with Christianity. Islamic Fundies will be sending their money to someone other than Pat, so that’s a bad thing…

Democrat wants Bush censured on eavesdropping – Yahoo! News

Mon Mar 13, 2:21 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Congress should censure President George W. Bush for ordering domestic eavesdropping on U.S. citizens without a warrant, a Democratic senator said on Sunday.

Sen. Russ Feingold (news, bio, voting record) of Wisconsin told ABC’s “This Week” that he intends to push for a resolution that would censure the president for what he considers an unlawful wiretapping program authorized by the White House after the September 11 attacks.

“It’s an unusual step,” Feingold said of the measure he plans to introduce in the Senate on Monday. “It’s a big step. But what the president did by consciously and intentionally violating the Constitution and laws of this country with this illegal wiretapping, has to be answered.”

Review of Dot’s Place Cafeteria – Austin, TX, 78727-1320 – Citysearch

Dot’s Place burned down about a year ago, but Dot is still serving up lunch at the same spot from 11-2 every day. We took a ride up there today, it’s take out service only, but still just as good as before. I had meat loaf, okra & tomatoes, green beans and a cornbread muffin, all for $7.00. Guess I have a reason to go work out at the gym later, but man, that’s some good old fashioned comfort food!

NBC: Arrests in Alabama church fires – Crime & Punishment – MSNBC.com

BREAKING NEWS
NBC News and news services
Updated: 9:41 a.m. ET March 8, 2006

WASHINGTON – Federal law enforcement officials believe they’ve scored a big break with the arrest of two people believed responsible for the string of church fires in Alabama, NBC’s Pete Williams reported Wednesday.

–

Should be interesting to see what was behind this string of fires in Alabama, good to see that they’ve put the pieces together and made an arrest.

I caught this video fluff piece last week on CNN as well as others here and here, while I was working out at the gym. And I couldn’t help but wonder who was really out of touch. Can it be that “Middle America” is really made up primarily of senior women in bell choirs in Lebanon, Kansas? How is that group representative of anything?

Anyway, as James Wolcott says…

There’s no such thing as an average American anymore (if there ever was), unless by “average American” you mean (as news producers and pundits seem to do) white, middle-aged, heterosexual Christian small-towners and suburbanites who won’t even be watching the Academy Awards because it’ll be past their bedtime and they have elk to milk the next morning.

Wal-Mart to Stock Morning-After Pill

By MARCUS KABEL, Associated Press Writer 26 minutes ago

Officials of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced Friday the company will reverse its earlier policy and stock emergency contraception pills in all of its pharmacies effective March 20, saying the giant retailer could not justify being the country’s only major pharmacy chain not to carry the morning-after pill.

Yahoo news

Shame on you George.

Tape: Bush, Chertoff Warned Before Katrina

By MARGARET EBRAHIM and JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writers Wed Mar 1, 6:15 PM ET

WASHINGTON – In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans’ Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage.

Yahoo News

Dan Rather is on this flight, right behind me…