Yet Another Reason Apple Sucks

Yes, Apple, the kings of patent whoredom, have successfully patented the lanyard, or "Ornamental Harness" as they call it.

Enjoy dropping $35 for the ugliest mp3 player accessory in existence. But hell, you're buying an Ipod accessory, so you're used to overpaying for colorless crap.

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Iraq: Terrorist Training Ground!!!

So says Michelle Pilecki over at Huffington Post. This is just the latest leftist (I have no idea who she is but come on, she posts at HuffPo) to spout this talking point. What I NEVER hear is the opposite; isn't it also a training ground to FIGHT terrorism?



No one honestly believes that had we not gone to Iraq, the terrorists would have just given up (recruitment poster, serious? As long as their is an Israel and radical Imam's teaching violence, no "recruiting posters" are necessary).



With Iraq and Afghanistan, we are training not only our soldiers but our systems how to fight a war against insurgents. The lessons learned from these conflicts will be invaluable in an increasingly decentralized world of violence. In the near-term, it does not look like there will be traditional battles or battlefields, and since our society has been conditioned to not tolerate Total War, the Armed Forces are required to adopt new strategies. These conflicts will be valuable in the future, and wile 3000+ men is a terrible tragedy and a terrible real price to pay, the lessons learned could prove to be infinitely greater.

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Teacher's Nose Attacks Students Fist!!

A Milwaukee teacher attacked a 15 year old student with her face today at Frische Middle School. Or at least, I'm sure that how the folks in the city will spin it.

A 15-year-old girl who was talking on a cell phone in class yesterday
became angry when her teacher told her to hang up and hit the teacher
repeatedly in the face, chipping her tooth, Milwaukee police said.



The
girl was restrained by male students until police arrived and arrested
her on suspicion of substantial battery, said Anne E. Schwartz,
department spokeswoman.



The girl was on a phone at Fritsche
Middle School, 2969 S. Howell Ave., at 10:30 a.m. - in violation of
school district policy - when the 54-year-old female teacher confronted
her, Schwartz said.

Absolutely stunning. Time to start a SERIOUS crack down. This is a perfect case. Throw the book at this kid. Expelled from school, try her as an adult, throw her in the can for a month.



Oh, but you'll ruin her future!!



Really, the girl flew off the handle because the teacher told her to stop talking on the phone...DURING CLASS!!! Who thinks that is okay? Who is so stunned that this is inappropriate behavior that when they are called on it, they pounce like a freaking animal? What future does this girl have? In what society can she thrive?



(I'm glad the race of the individuals involved hasn't been disclosed yet, I can speak without worry of being un-PC).

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National Pancake Day

Apparently, tomorrow, February 20th is National Pancake Day. (In addition to Fat Tuesday). To celebrate, IHOP is giving away free pancakes from 7 am to 10 pm. There is some charity tie in but honestly, you just want the pancakes.

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So uh, is this not a human being?

Does a baby born at 22 weeks get a birth certificate, I mean, according to abortion fanatics a fetus isn't a person yet because it isn't fully formed, so what is this??





I think the last line is the most telling in terms of impact this birth SHOULD have:

Amillia's incredible story will reignite
the debate over Britain's abortion laws, which campaigners say must be updated in the light of recent medical advances.

Babies can still be aborted for non-medical
reasons at up to 24 weeks. Recent evidence shows that, of those born at 25 weeks, half of them manage to live.

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Stumble Video

For those of you familiar with stumbleupon, they have a new service. Stumble Video is a service that lets you watch random videos from various web sites (I think google, video and myspace). Very cool way to keep me from studying my accounting.



Stumble Video via Lifehacker

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Singapore Gets It

From cato-at-liberty.com

If the average state levy is included, the U.S. corporate tax rate is
about 40 percent, which is higher than the coporate rate in every
European welfare state. American companies also must endure heavy
regulatory burdens especially in the aftermath of Sarbanes-Oxley.



In his Budget Statement for the Financial Year (FY) 2007, Second
Minister for Finance, Tharman Shanmugaratnam announced a two percentage
point reduction in the corporate income tax rate to 18% to sharpen
Singapore’s competitive edge.

So, Singapore wants to be more competitive and they lower taxes. Doyle wants to be more competitive so he, um, threatens jail time against executives who pass on operation costs in the price of their product. Hmmm, where would you want to do business?

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Olbermann Worse Than War

At least military analyst Ken Allard thinks so. The former colonel told NBC to shove it and it seems Olbermann defending American military hating Bill Arkin was the last straw.

Has anyone else noticed the network's precipitous retreat from journalistic and


ethical standards? Not only were no apologies given and no pink slips


issued for Arkin's outburst, but on his MSNBC show last week, Keith


Olberman went out of his way to defend this "valid criticism" of our


military.

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AJ Ratliff Made My Girlfriend Sleep On the Couch

So I watched the game at the sweet sweet bar that I play softball for last night. They also tune into every Brewer game, every night. I have trained them to have it on no matter what, so that if I stop in it better be on TV. (I tip well).

Anyway. That sumbitch worked Bucky last night and I was angry. My girlfriend is an IU grad. I told her at halftime if the Hoosiers won I would dump her. At the end of the game she stood up, jumped up and down, and shook her fantastic ass a little bit.

We reached a deal. I didn't dump her, but she slept on the couch... in her apartment.

You know what sucks about being from Wisconsin?

NOTHING!!

Molly Ivins: Dead

When I was in sixth grade President Richard Nixon died. My teacher at Lowell Elementary in Waukesha only mentioned it by saying "if you don't have anything nice..." when I asked him at the end of the day why the death of a President wasn't worth discussion. That's about my feelings towards Ivins. I'd imagine she is somewhere in the great beyond, discussion a socialist Utopia with Che and Lenin...wondering where it all went wrong. I'm sure she'll be first in line to offer Castro a chair.

She'll be remembered for plagiarism and as the person who coined "Shrub." The Lunatic Fringe is in tears.


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Militant Atheists Taunt the Religious

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2837034

Is there really a point to taunting those who believe in God, and to attempt to directly taunt God? Fine be an atheist, but is there a reason to be militant?

Thug Tech Riot

Wow, the Urinal actually posted video of the riot last night that broke out after the Bradley Tech - Bay View overtime basketball game. Clearly, time to stop allowing spectators into the Bradley Tech basketball games. Better yet, charge $35 per ticket, that will quickly solve the problem. These idiots want to beat hell out of each other on their own time in the streets, go nuts, but when these riots break out at high school sporting events, there are families, children, old people and all are put in danger. Go through the video and suspend any kid on the court, any kid swinging, and especially any kid who was arrested or detained. Chances of that happening? Mr. Slim, meet Mr. None.

I like that the Urinal calls it a "disturbance." Anytime DOZENS of cops have to go anywhere, and 4 of these officers are injured, it's no freaking disturbance.

Of course, since most of the people in the video appear to be black, I am sure it's just me being racist for thinking this is outrageous.

Symphony Mario

This is pretty freaking cool, if you like video games, which I in fact, do (just got a DS for the Boston trains...amazing!)

Where Have You Been??

Well, I’ve been in Boston for the past year, and I will be staying for the foreseeable future (grad school). A few things have made me decide to return to the great pastime of blogging. (I think that word is half the reason I stopped by the way).

#1 Google Reader. The thing is incredible. It’s like a never-ending listing of things that interest me, and every day I am adding new feeds. It is fantastic.

#2 Tommy Thompson. T2 is running for President!! He will be my guy until he is knocked out. I want to spread all the word I can, while I can, however I can.

#3 This jackass.

So folks, Righting Wisconsin is back, feel free to drop me a line if you want to know more about my last year. It’s been dope. And go check out the Sports Bar.

TCS Daily: Blood Alcohol Blues

Over at TCS Daily (formerly Tech Central Station) Max Borders actually offers an alternative solution to what is in his eyes (I happen to agree) a problem. The problem is the lowering of BAC limits for an individual to be considered legally drunk. Being the ripe young age of 24 I still am frequently around people drinking, and drinking in large quantities. As such, the effects of varying amounts of booze on different individuals does not escape me. I know 250 lb guys who are considerably impaired after two or three drinks and I know 108 lb girls who can polish off a twelver with no problem. The problem with BAC in determining the ability to drive is that blood alcohol content measures just that, the amount of alcohol in your blood. It does not measure your ability to react to various situations, BAC gives only an indication as to the impairment of an individual. Should the pettie girl who can drink like a fish, blow a .10 and still drive go to jail while the house of a man who drinks like Nicole Kidman from Blind Date but only blows a .04 is sent on his way?

Mr. Borders offers an interesting solution at the end of his piece which may or may not be feasible, but at least he is trying to solve a problem.

So the question comes down to this: Are there other (non-cost prohibitive) standards available for testing drivers? One’s that actually test for impairment?
You bet -- and they’re inexpensive.
My tentative suggestion would be a portable driving simulator. If we train fighter-pilots and astronauts on sims, why not test drivers with them? In fact, there are all sorts of computer programs sitting on servers at different universities around the country, not to mention in for-profit companies. There are programs for everything from learning to drive an eighteen wheeler, to -- eureka -- testing people’s driving abilities under the influence.
Even if we thought the driving simulators extant were somehow insufficient for the task of determining whether or not someone is impaired, we know the technology exists and that a prototype for cops could be worked up in a matter of months. Don’t believe me? This following list of games should give us an idea of what’s out there:
 Beta Research Driving Simulator
 Gran Turismo 4
 Subaru (Online Simulator Game)
 Drivesquare
I admit that a formalized simulation might have to be studied extensively. But the technology is there: 3-D virtual reality glasses, algorithms that recreate physical forces, graphics, sound -- and everything else cool and realistic that you might find in your kids’ X-Box 360.
While such new technologies may have to be reworked and tested for use as a legal standard, it’s certainly a significantly better objective standard for determining whether a person is capable of driving than breathalyzers. And while there may be a minor inferential step from someone’s score on the simulation to the presence of alcohol in her body, such a step is far, far narrower than the giant leap between BAC and impairment.

MapSexOffenders.com - Coaching Up the Journal Ed Board

I was a little surprised to read the Journal’s editorial this morning about the new updates to the sex offender web site. According to the Journal:

As of Thursday, Department of Corrections Secretary Matt Frank has promised, it includes specific addresses for those offenders registered. The Web site at http://widocoffenders.org was clunky in practice when we tried it (because of "traffic congestion," said a spokesman), but addresses were included.
Go to the Web site, and click on Search Registry. You can search by name or location. In the location field, type in a ZIP code. Names of sexual offenders who are required to register will appear. Click on any one of them, and that offender's information will pop up, including address.
The ability to type in addresses and get offenders in proximity would be handier, but this addition is an improvement.

A cursory search of the web would have found them a number of sites that not only show sex offenders in the proximity of a given address, but also give a picture of said offender. My favorite is mapsexoffenders.com which uses the google map tool to plot each sex offender in the vicinity of an address or zip code. Clicking on each pinpoint brings up the address and mug shot of the offender. This is a fantastic resource that is far and away better than that listed by the Journal. Shocking.

Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy the Turkey Fires!

Well, Happy Thanksgiving folks. Here are some deep friar mishaps brought to you by the folks at underwriter laboratories. Enjoy!

A Defeat That Stings...

Reported oil shortages, high gas prices because of skyrocketing demand, and untapped oil reserves in our own country. Seems to me the equation works itself out quite nicely. While the ANWR oil won't solve any problems, it will alleviate some immediate fears and allow for greater saving of oil, our own oil, the cost of which will undoubtedly be cheaper than shipping it in from overseas.

I simply don't understand how the aesthetic value of an environmental preserve, which serves no other purpose than "being pretty" trumps the social and economic needs of the greatest country in the history of civilization? To top it off, the Grand Ol Party congressmen couldn't even get the moratorium lifted on offshore drilling on the east and west coasts.

The worst part is how large the Republican defection was on this issue:

Twenty-five Republicans, led by Rep. Charles Bass of New Hampshire, signed a letter asking GOP leaders to strike the Alaskan drilling provision from the broader $54 billion budget cut bill.

“Rather then reversing decades of protection for this publicly held land, focusing greater attention on renewable energy sources, alternate fuels, and more efficient systems and appliances would yield more net energy savings than could come from ANWR and would have a higher benefit on the nation’s long-term economic leadership and security,” they said.

The moderates knew they had leverage, given the narrow margin of GOP control of the House. It only takes 14 Republican defections to scuttle a bill, assuming every Democrat opposes it.

Hopefully the Republicans in the Senate can throw a little clout around and get this thing done, finally, for the good of the country instead of cowtowing to the interests of nutty leftists who have twisted the issue into some all-important cause.

Red State Rumor Mill Gets Churning...Justice Sammy Alito?

I don't think they have gotten it right yet, but the folks over at Redstate.org are saying the next nominee will be Samuel Alito, known as Scalito to leftists.

Or, it could possibly be Luttig. Either would be a fantastic choice for the Roberts Court (still love saying it).

Multiple sources are telling RedState that Samuel A. Alito, Jr. of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals will be named by the President at the next associate justice of the United States Supreme Court as early as Monday.

"The situation is still in flux," says one source, "but not very much." Says another, "The White House Counsel's Office is not doing too good at keeping this a secret."

Still another source says, "Luttig and Alito were the fall backs to Miers. They have both been vetted. Alito seems more palatable. There is no need to drag this out, he's been vetted a million times."

Obviously it is still wait and see...

Liberal Pundits: "Abortion Is Murder"

I was reading Jonah Goldberg's piece over at TownHall (newly redesigned I might add) and saw a couple quotes I had not seen before.

And then Bennett offered the infamous hypothetical, saying: "I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could - if that were your sole purpose - you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down."

Now, many of you probably know all of this so far. But some probably do not because you've heard about this second hand. And Democrats and many liberals have been trying to distort what Bennett said. Former DNC chair Terry McAuliffe: "The point he was trying to make, I guess, he said, you know, if you were to go out there and kill the black babies, the crime would go down." Ted Kennedy and a predictably long list of others have called him a racist. Radio host Ed Schultz said: Bennett is "out there advocating the murder of all black babies."

Umm, when did these folks start thinking of fetuses as babies? I am one of the rare people in America who has no solid stance on abortion, I have never felt in a position to say one way or the other and I can see compelling arguments on either side. My problem here is with the unabashed hipocrisy coming from these leftists.

Bennet obviously and explicitly said "abort." He was talking about abortion. And McAuliffe and Ed Schultz (radio host in Dakota or something, syndicated in a few place, I don't blame you if you never heard of him I hadn't until I got XM) immediatley say Bennett was advocating "killing black babies."

So has the left, some of the left, or just these two nutters changed their position on abortion (I have a feeling Schultz may be somewhat pro-life, based on DU rants). Is abortion now "murdering babies?" If it is, doesn't the act of murder trump a woman's right to privacy?

Goldberg touches on this later in the column.

Notice how so many righteously offended liberals keep referring to fetuses as people. In The New York Times, Bob Herbert proclaims that Bennett considers "exterminating blacks would be a most effective crime-fighting tool." Schultz and McAuliffe say Bennett wants to exterminate "babies."

Funny, I thought the bedrock faith of pro-abortion liberals is that fetuses aren't babies. Isn't it interesting how this lynchpin of liberal morality evaporates the moment an opportunity to call Bennett a racist presents itself? Talk about utilitarianism.

I cannot fathom how you can have it both ways? When talking about "aborting black fetuses" liberals call it murder, but when talking about abortion in general, it's a "right to choose." That line is far too fine for me.