October 26, 2012

Man Gets Romney 'R' Tattooed On His Face

Source: ABC News

Some say that campaign ads are getting just ridiculous. But now it's taken a turn to the truly bizarre. An Indiana man has auctioned off space on the side of his head, where he tattooed Mitt Romney's presidential campaign "R" logo in a 5-by-2-inch spot for a bid of $15, 000.

Eric Hartsburg posted the eBay listing in August, and told ABC News that he was paid $15,000 by a Republican eBay user, who preferred to remain anonymous, to get the Romney logo permanently inked on the side of his head. Hartsburg, who is an Indiana native, told ABC News that he agreed because the tattoo was something that he could live with.

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/t2x1Amqk9J2HfQDSpFzUew--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD0zNjA7cT03OTt3PTY0MA--/


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/man-gets-romney-r-tattooed-face-201007022--abc-news-politics.html

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The stoopid is strong in this one.

October 26, 2012

Quick! How many aircraft carriers are currently deployed by all the world's navies?

How many carriers does China have?

How about Russia?

France?

The UK?

The U.S.?

Actually how many countries even have aircraft carriers?

Don't peek. Write down you guesses




















Total number of carriers deployed: 31
Deployed by China: 1
Deployed by Russia: 1
Deployed by France: 1
Deployed by the U.K.: 2
Deployed by the U.S.: 20
Nations with aircraft carriers: 10



Carriers are the most powerful, and most expensive means of projecting military might into a region, and the U.S. has twice as many as the rest of the world combined, and ten times as many as our rivals.

Keep these numbers in mind when anyone brings up the canard that the U.S. Navy is somehow in decline.

October 25, 2012

The other gaping hole in Mourdock's logic

As vile as Mourdock's statement is, it seems he is being granted a pass by his GOP brethren through the simple mechanism of twisting the very definition of words and their context out of this space/time continuum into a completely new dimension.

But, even if we were to accept this "clarification" as logically coherent, there is still an even bigger psycho than Mourdock in the room: Mourdock's "God of peace".

Let's go back to the instant replay of the original foul, shall we?

"The only exception I have to have an abortion is in that case of the life of the mother," Mourdock said. "I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize that life is that gift from God and I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape that it is something God intended to happen."

If life is a "gift from God", then that would mean that "God" creates some life with the intent of killing women. Mourdock accepts the need for abortion when the mother's life is at risk, oblivious to the fact that his "God" willfully allowed a pregnancy to happen so as to place the mother in a position of choosing between her own life or that of her child.

Aside from being something that only a sadistic psychopath would do, it is logically incompatible with Mourdock's reasons for allowing abortion in this instance.

The unwilling rape victim was given the unwanted "gift" of pregnancy, and this gift may not be revoked. However, the wanted, but fatal "gift" given to to the willing mother may be refused?

Huh?

It would seem to me that if an unwilling rape victim may not refuse the "gift", a woman who wanted the "gift" has ZERO grounds for refusal. After all, she set about getting pregnant fully aware of the risks, with the express intent of becoming pregnant.

If we accept Mourdock's rational, then we can only conclude that Mourdock's "God" is truly a malevolent entity. After all, this "God" is prepared to kill women outright, which Mourdock makes allowances for, while not making allowances for women his "God" is prepared to victimize in a less than lethal manner.

Actually, the more we examine the man's logic, the more obvious it becomes that Mourdock is a religiously insane, misogynistic asshole.

Yeah, that is the far more reasonable conclusion.

October 16, 2012

New owners of voting machine company Hart-Intercivic have close Romney ties

As noted in other posts, H.I.G. Capital, LLC, a private equity firm stuffed full of Romney croniesm bought voting machine company Hart-Intercivic in July 2011. This has has raised the old spectre of dodgy computer code and stolen elections. A few issues to keep in mind going forward:

1) According to the Ohio SoS site, H-I equipment is only used in two counties, Williams and Hamilton. I am trying to find out which counties use H-I equipment in Colorado.

2) Despite much discussion about "rigging" an election, the easiest way to have an effect on an election is to control the number and deployment of functional voting machines. Keep replacement/backup equipment in short supply, then controlling what precinct gets replacements is easier to manage than diddling the code. Also, much harder to prove tampering short of a whistleblower or a confession.

3) No reasonable person can view control of a voting machine company by political partisans as anything short of improper.

4) The quickest way to destroy faith in elections is to have situations like this.

5) Until voting machines are afforded that same level of security as slot machines in Las Vegas, we cannot trust them without a LOT of scrutiny.

6) No voting process which lacks a tangible ballot is acceptable.

A few points about my experiences on this issue (since it has been a while since I posted on this topic):

I have done a LOT of work on e-voting activism over the years starting with the Diebold fiasco starting back in 2002. For those who wish to bother and check my bona fides, I served on the NC Select Committee on Electronic Voting in 2005 which helped draft one of the toughest e-voting laws in the nation. I WAS associated with Bev Harris back in the day, but haven't been since 2004. I coined the term "black box voting". While I view paperless voting as a major threat to transparent and accurate elections, I do NOT subscribe to the numerous theories out on the net that various elections were stolen using touch screen voting machines (Diebold's or anyone elses). I am a hard facts kind of guy with a computer hardware/software background. In my view, there is plenty of hard evidence to invalidate the use of ANY paperless voting system without resorting to skullduggery. That said, the use of a voting system without tangible ballots makes skullduggery easier.

One thing I have told many election officials and voting machine execs over the years is constant: If you don't want to be inundated with conspiracy theories about criminal misconduct and stolen elections, do not behave in a manner which fuels such speculation.

Do not, for example, have the CEO of your company head up the GOP election efforts and write letters telling people "I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president [Bush]" when you make voting machines used in that same election. Do not hold secret meetings with other voting machine makers where you conspire to undermine independent testing of voting machines.

Links:

Ownership of Hart-Intercivic:

http://www.thedailydolt.com/2012/10/10/former-bain-employees-own-voting-machine-company-used-in-swing-states/

Ohio SoS:

http://www.sos.state.oh.us/SOS/Upload/elections/votingsystems.aspx?page=25056

Colorado relaxing voting machine security:

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2011/12/colorado-voting-machine-security

Cross-posted from Politics 2012

October 16, 2012

Reality check on Hart-Intercivic voting machine company and its owndership by Romney partisans

As noted in other posts, H.I.G. Capital, LLC, a private equity firm stuffed full of Romney croniesm bought voting machine company Hart-Intercivic in July 2011. This has has raised the old spectre of dodgy computer code and stolen elections. A few issues to keep in mind going forward:

1) According to the Ohio SoS site, H-I equipment is only used in two counties, Williams and Hamilton. I am trying to find out which counties use H-I equipment in Colorado.

2) Despite much discussion about "rigging" an election, the easiest way to have an effect on an election is to control the number and deployment of functional voting machines. Keep replacement/backup equipment in short supply, then controlling what precinct gets replacements is easier to manage than diddling the code. Also, much harder to prove tampering short of a whistleblower or a confession.

3) No reasonable person can view control of a voting machine company by political partisans as anything short of improper.

4) The quickest way to destroy faith in elections is to have situations like this.

5) Until voting machines are afforded that same level of security as slot machines in Las Vegas, we cannot trust them without a LOT of scrutiny.

6) No voting process which lacks a tangible ballot is acceptable.

Links:

Ownership of Hart-Intercivic:

http://www.thedailydolt.com/2012/10/10/former-bain-employees-own-voting-machine-company-used-in-swing-states/

Ohio SoS:

http://www.sos.state.oh.us/SOS/Upload/elections/votingsystems.aspx?page=25056

Colorado relaxing voting machine security:

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2011/12/colorado-voting-machine-security

And an oldie from my old site on how Hart-Intercivic organized a secret meeting to fight e-voting activists and undermine independent machine certification:

http://blackboxvoting.com/s9/index.php?/archives/177-Secret-meeting-of-the-Black-Box-Yakuza.html

Cross posted to Politics 2012

October 16, 2012

Reality check on Hart-Intercivic voting machine company and its owndership by Romney partisans

As noted in other posts, H.I.G. Capital, LLC, a private equity firm stuffed full of Romney croniesm bought voting machine company Hart-Intercivic in July 2011. This has has raised the old spectre of dodgy computer code and stolen elections. A few issues to keep in mind going forward:

1) According to the Ohio SoS site, H-I equipment is only used in two counties, Williams and Hamilton. I am trying to find out which counties use H-I equipment in Colorado.

2) Despite much discussion about "rigging" an election, the easiest way to have an effect on an election is to control the number and deployment of functional voting machines. Keep replacement/backup equipment in short supply, then controlling what precinct gets replacements is easier to manage than diddling the code. Also, much harder to prove tampering short of a whistleblower or a confession.

3) No reasonable person can view control of a voting machine company by political partisans as anything short of improper.

4) The quickest way to destroy faith in elections is to have situations like this.

5) Until voting machines are afforded that same level of security as slot machines in Las Vegas, we cannot trust them without a LOT of scrutiny.

6) No voting process which lacks a tangible ballot is acceptable.

Links:

Ownership of Hart-Intercivic:

http://www.thedailydolt.com/2012/10/10/former-bain-employees-own-voting-machine-company-used-in-swing-states/

Ohio SoS:

http://www.sos.state.oh.us/SOS/Upload/elections/votingsystems.aspx?page=25056

Colorado relaxing voting machine security:

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2011/12/colorado-voting-machine-security

And an oldie from my old site on how Hart-Intercivic organized a secret meeting to fight e-voting activists and undermine independent machine certification:

http://blackboxvoting.com/s9/index.php?/archives/177-Secret-meeting-of-the-Black-Box-Yakuza.html

Cross-posted to Election Reform

October 9, 2012

Modern wheat a "perfect, chronic poison," doctor says

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505269_162-57505149/modern-wheat-a-perfect-chronic-poison-doctor-says/

Davis said that the wheat we eat these days isn't the wheat your grandma had: "It's an 18-inch tall plant created by genetic research in the '60s and '70s," he said on "CBS This Morning." "This thing has many new features nobody told you about, such as there's a new protein in this thing called gliadin. It's not gluten. I'm not addressing people with gluten sensitivities and celiac disease. I'm talking about everybody else because everybody else is susceptible to the gliadin protein that is an opiate. This thing binds into the opiate receptors in your brain and in most people stimulates appetite, such that we consume 440 more calories per day, 365 days per year."

Asked if the farming industry could change back to the grain it formerly produced, Davis said it could, but it would not be economically feasible because it yields less per acre. However, Davis said a movement has begun with people turning away from wheat - and dropping substantial weight.

"If three people lost eight pounds, big deal," he said. "But we're seeing hundreds of thousands of people losing 30, 80, 150 pounds. Diabetics become no longer diabetic; people with arthritis having dramatic relief. People losing leg swelling, acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, and on and on every day."

*sigh*

I throw this out for discussion as I do not quite know what to make of the claim.

Yes, I can believe the premise of what Davis is saying, and it makes sense, but so do a lot of other "sensible-sounding" theories until you get some serious peer-reviewed research into the claims.

America's obesity problem is being blamed on a number of factors, all which seem plausible:

- High Fructose Corn Syrup
- High concentrations of corn in food
- Sugar (all types)
- Growth hormones used in animals
- Growth of suburbia requiring driving instead of walking
- Practical elimination of phys-ed in schools
- Shift from agrarian to industrial economy
- The rise of super-high calorie fast food/convenience food
- Cheap food prices (relative to the past, especially meat)
- All the above

What does one eat to be healthy? And if most of what is on the market is unhealthy, how does one find the money and time to find, buy and prepare healthy foods?

How do we make sense of all these conflicting theories?