Overnight Open Thread
Open | Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 11:08:53 pm PDT
Human judges can show mercy. But against the laws of nature, there is no appeal.
— Arthur C. Clarke
God Said, Don't
Politics | Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 5:34:02 pm PDT
Joe the Plumber had a chat with the Almighty, and the word came down from on high: “Don’t run for office, Joe.”
Asked if he has plans to run for public office, he replied, “I hope not. You know, I talked to God about that and he was like, ‘No.’”
He continued, “I believe he’s gotten me on this grassroots movement. If I can encourage leaders to step up, that’s what I would like to do. That’s a heavy role. That’s something I don’t know if I am prepared to do yet.”
Wednesday Night Music: Pat Metheny Trio, 'Lone Jack'
Music | Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 4:25:47 pm PDT
Pat Metheny with Christian McBride (bass) and Antonio Sanchez (drums), tearing through a tune called “Lone Jack,” from the album, Pat Metheny Group.
New Gallup Poll: More Americans See Democratic Party As 'Too Liberal'
US News | Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 1:59:54 pm PDT
A new Gallup poll has some interesting results; this year the number of Americans who described the Democratic Party’s views as “too liberal” increased to a historic high mark (46%), putting it slightly ahead of the number who say the Republican Party is “too conservative” (43%).
However, it’s not great news for the Republicans, because the number who say the GOP is “too conservative” has remained unchanged from its own historic high mark last year.
It looks like a lot of Americans are disenchanted with both parties for being too extreme.
Here’s a Gallup video on the poll with more details on the results.
Tech Note: Daily Format
Technology | Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 1:17:04 pm PDT
For years, the LGF front page has contained the last 3 to 5 days worth of posts, which can result in rather large pages depending on the content in the posts. I’m experimenting today with a single day’s worth of posts on the front page, to cut the size considerably — which makes the front page load much more quickly for you, dear reader.
Obviously, the downside is that you see fewer posts as you scroll down the front page. But there is a light green navigation bar at the top and bottom of the page, with a link to yesterday’s posts. Once you click that link you’re in daily mode, and can use the navigation bar to step back and forth by days.
As always, you can use the “Daily Archives” button in the left sidebar to bring up a calendar and jump directly to any day in LGF’s history.
I think the faster loading time is worth the slight inconvenience of not seeing several days’ worth of posts on the front page; but if you disagree, here’s a thread in which to make your case.
UPDATE at 7/1/09 1:26:59 pm:
Changed the test slightly; now the front page shows today and yesterday, so there isn’t just one post on the page at the start of a day.
JPost: Iran Hanging Mousavi Supporters
World | Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 12:43:23 pm PDT
The Jerusalem Post cites unconfirmed reports from Iran that the regime has begun hanging supporters of Mousavi.
As the Iranian authorities warned the opposition on Tuesday that they would tolerate no further protests over the disputed June 12 presidential elections, a report emerged of the hangings of six supporters of defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Speaking after Iran’s top legislative body upheld the election victory of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, sources in Iran told this reporter in a telephone interview that the hangings took place in the holy city of Mashhad on Monday. There was no independent confirmation of the report.
Onion: New Green Menu Has No Natural Ingredients
Humor | Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 12:11:28 pm PDT
Obama Health Care Town Hall Meeting
Health | Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 11:19:37 am PDT
Here’s a thread to discuss Barack Obama’s town hall meeting promoting his health care plans, now under way in Annandale, Virginia ...
YouTube is streaming the meeting live.
McKinney Arrested By Israel, Appears on Hate Radio
Moonbats | Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 10:46:53 am PDT
One of the craziest moonbat politicians in the US, Cynthia McKinney, has been arrested again for trying to break Israel’s blockade of Hamas: Israel navy intercepts boat with ex-U.S. Rep. McKinney.
JERUSALEM (CNN) — The Israeli navy took control of a boat that violated an Israeli blockade and crossed into Gazan waters Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said, while a Gaza group said the ship was carrying humanitarian aid, a former U.S. congresswoman and a Nobel laureate.
The boat’s crew included former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, according to the Free Gaza Movement, a human rights group that sent the boat it calls “Spirit of Humanity” from Cyprus. ...
IDF said the Israeli navy contacted the boat, which it called the Arion, while it was still at sea and warned the crew they would not be allowed to enter Gazan waters “because of security risks in the area and the existing naval blockade.”
Disregarding all warnings, the boat entered Gazan coastal waters, IDF said. An Israeli navy force intercepted, boarded and took control of the boat, directing it toward Ashdod, Israel, IDF said. The boat’s crew, the military said, would “be handed over to the proper authorities.” ...
According to the Free Gaza group, McKinney said, “This is an outrageous violation of international law against us. Our boat was not in Israeli waters, and we were on a human rights mission to the Gaza Strip,” before authorities confiscated cell phones.
“President Obama just told Israel to let in humanitarian and reconstruction supplies, and that’s exactly what we tried to do. We’re asking the international community to demand our release so we can resume our journey,” McKinney said, according to the group.
Adam Holland, meanwhile, has been tracking McKinney’s frequent appearances on antisemitic radio shows: McKinney on hate radio again.
Now McKinney has done several more interviews on another racist radio show with far-right links — this time with a better-known, and much more widely read, internet hate monger called Daryl Bradford Smith. You can read an archived version of his website’s homepage here: Zionism Research - The French Connection - Fighting Criminal Zionism. (Has McKinney read it? How did she find these people?) This webpage, on which recordings of the programs featuring McKinney can be found, features a banner headline endorsing the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It reads:
The Protocols are sometimes criticized as containing nothing that had not been said previously by philosophers or statesmen; but even if that were true, it would detract little from their interest. For their importance does not lie in the aim, world domination, nor in the theory by which it is attained, exploitation of man’s baser instincts, but in the extraordinary astuteness with which the practical application of the plan has been suited to existing conditions.Smith’s homepage links to other pages on his website devoted to the works of infamous bigots such as Charles Coughlin, Denis Fahey, Nesta Webster, and Douglas Reed. The page devoted to Fahey deals with what Smith calls the “Judeo-Bolshevist plot against Christianity”. In fact, the vast majority of the authors published by Smith on his website come from the extreme far-right of the political spectrum, and promote, as did the Nazis, the view that communism was a Jewish conspiracy. However, Smith’s website also promotes the Stalinist Doctors’ Plot myth. It seems that Smith is happy to cross ideological lines and promote myths of czarist, fascist or Stalinist origin, so long as they support his anti-Jewish agenda. Now he’s interviewed Cynthia McKinney and added her socialism of fools to the mix.
Beck and Scheuer: Only an Attack By Osama Bin Laden Can Save America
Video | Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 9:50:47 am PDT
In this clip from the Glenn Beck Comedy Hour, former CIA agent (and complete wacko) Michael Scheuer says the only thing that can save America from illegal immigration is for “Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States.”
Good grief.
Beck, of course, nods and agrees with this warped analysis, and says, “Which is why I was thinking this weekend, if I were him that would be the last thing I would do right now.”
(Hat tip: LGF readers.)
Firefox 3.5
Technology | Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 5:36:39 am PDT
Firefox 3.5, a major update, has been released into the wild.
